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1
For the marinade: Combine the garlic, bay leaves, carrots, celery, onions and wine in a large bowl or container.
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2
Add the beef; cover and let sit in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight.
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3
(This is a really important step: it makes a huge flavor difference.)
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4
For the stew: Remove the beef from the marinade.
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5
Strain the veggies and bay leaves from the marinade and discard.
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6
Reserve 2 cups of the marinade.
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7
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
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8
Coat a large, wide pan or Dutch oven with olive oil and bring to medium-high heat.
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9
Sprinkle the beef with salt and toss with the flour; do not flour the beef until you're ready to brown it.
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10
Add the flour-coated beef to the hot pan, but be sure to not crowd the pan; you will need to work in four batches.
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11
Brown the meat well on all sides, 12 to 15 minutes.
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12
Remove from the pan to a baking sheet.
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13
After the first two batches, deglaze the pot with 1/2 cup of the reserved marinade, scraping up any browned bits.
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14
Drain the liquid into a small bowl.
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15
Add more olive oil to the pan to coat and cook the remaining two batches of meat.
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16
Add the meat to the baking sheet.
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17
Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup marinade, scraping up any browned bits.
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18
Add the bacon and cook until it gets brown and crispy, about 5 minutes.
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19
Toss in the mushrooms, carrots, celery, garlic and onions, and season with salt.
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20
Cook until the mixture starts to soften and becomes very aromatic, about 10 minutes.
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21
Add the tomato paste and cook, 1 to 2 minutes.
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22
Add the remaining 1 cup marinade and deglaze the pan, stirring up any browned bits, 1 minute.
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23
Add the beef.
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24
Stir to combine and cook until the wine has reduced by half, 1 to 2 minutes.
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25
Add enough of the beef stock to just cover the surface of the beef.
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26
Toss in the bay leaves and thyme bundle.
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27
Cover the pan, bring the liquid to a boil and put in the oven.
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28
Cook the beef for 2 hours.
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29
During the last hour of cooking time, add the potatoes.
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30
Cover the pan with the lid and put the stew back in the oven to cook for an additional hour.
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31
Remove the pot from the oven and skim off any excess grease from the surface of the stew.
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32
Garnish with the chives and serve with crusty bread to sop up all the sauce.
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33
From Food Network Kitchens; after further testing and to ensure the best results this recipe has been altered from what was in the actual episode.
