Red Wine and Herb Beef Stew

Chilly evenings, big bowl of warm stew.  You don't need any explanations for that, right?  Sure enough, first sign of cooler weather and I'm buying stew meat.  But I was also craving some of the flavors in my Pot Roast a la Giada with its sweet red wine notes and fragrant herbs.  So I just updated my long-time, tried and true stew recipe to include those flavors.  One pot, inexpensive but with all those rich, earthy flavors.  Now this stew is in regular rotation until spring.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 lb.  Beef round cubes
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 Onion, peeled and diced
3 Carrots, peeled and sliced
4 Cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 Tablespoon chopped rosemary
2 Tablespoons chopped thyme
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
4 Cups beef stock
1/2 Cup red wine
Salt & pepper to taste

Place the flour in a large bowl and add the beef cubes.  Roll them around to coat.  Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into a large Dutch oven or other oven safe stew pot.  Add half the beef cubes (it's important not to overcrowd the beef if you want it to brown instead of boil) and sear on medium high heat for a couple of minutes, rotating the cubes to get the sear on all sides.  Remove the beef from the pot, add the remaining tablespoon of oil and repeat with the remainder of the beef.

When seared, remove all the beef and whisk in 1 cup of stock.  Scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the pot and whisk them into the stock.  Return the beef to the pot and add the onions, carrots, garlic, rosemary, thyme, remaining beef stock and red wine.  Stir in the tomato paste and season.  Cover and cook in a 350 degree oven for 3 hours.  Serve over potatoes, egg noodles or rice.  Makes approximately 4 servings but the recipe can easily be doubled.