Something about winter Sundays makes me want to eat stew. Well, at least something that’s cooked slowly all afternoon while I slovenly sit on the couch, in this case, watching Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. So for yesterday’s meal, I returned to the photocopies a friend made me from the Weight Watchers In One Pot cookbook.
But let me digress one moment. I have to say, there are two things that irk me about the Weight Watcher cookbooks. 1) They only offer them for a limited time and then they’re gone. Unless you want to way overpay on E-bay, you snooze, you lose. 2) They repeat recipes. Well, yes, maybe they’re not exactly the same but I don’t call changing macaroni from regular to whole wheat and low fat cheese to fat free cheese in order to make something core, a new recipe. I guess because of these two bugaboos, I have no compunction about reprinting their recipes.

Anyway, so back to my lazy Sunday – for yesterday, I decided to make a Beef Burgundy, which while it wasn’t entirely in one pot, came close enough. I assembled all the ingredients about 10:00am because the recipe said it needed 8 to 10 hours on low. It was easy peasy, and then it sat and cooked away all day, making the house smell pretty good.

There are no pictures though because I have this thing with slow cooker foods – I don’t know if it’s me, or if it’s because the recipe cooked too long (as I said, the recipe said 8 – 10 hours, but my crockpot cooks hot and it probably was done in more like 5.5 to 6 hours) or if it’s just a function of crock pot cookery, but other than the parsley sprinkled on at the end, all the colors just melt, into a sort of brown. It tasted good though and Becky and Chris both said I could make it again. There’s a lot of extra gravy, so make sure you have an nice crusty loaf for mopping.

Beef Burgundy

2t canola oil
1lb boneless lean beef round, trimmed of all visible fat and cut into 2-inch cubes
1/2t salt
1/4t fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 all purpose potatoes (about 3/4lb) cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound fresh white mushrooms, quartered (I used baby bella)
1C frozen small whole onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1T chopped fresh thyme or 1t dried
1 bay leaf
2T flour
3T cold water
2t browning and seasoning sauce (e.g., Gravy Master)
2T chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the beef, then sprinkle with salt and pepper (I would do this first instead of in the pan). Cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer the beef to a slow cooker. At this point, though not in the original instructions, I deglazed the pan with what was left of the 14.5 oz can of beef broth and some water, then I took those leavings and added them to the crockpot. Also note, that the instructions say that while browning adds flavor and color, it’s not necessary, you could just throw the meat into the crockpot without browning.

2. Add broth, wine, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, thyme and bay leaf to crockpot. Cover and cook until the meat and veggies are fork-tender, four to five hours on high, or eight to 10 hours on low.

3. About 20minutes before the cooking time is up, combine the flour, water, and seasoning sauce in a small bowl until smooth; stir in about 1/4cup of the cooking liquid until smooth – stir mixture back into Slow Cooker. Cover and cook on high, until mixture simmers and thickens about 15 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the parsley just before serving.

Makes 4, 1.5 cup servings at 6 points.