Spanish Beef Stew

Spanish stew is my favorite weekend meal to make. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes.  Would be great to do in a crock pot too - I just work too far and worry about leaving the crock pot on with my parrots at home! I know, such a worry wart... I get that trait from my dad.

The secret ingredient to our family Spanish stew is sofrito. Sofrito is many herbs and veggies blended together. Once blended, the mixture is frozen into ice cubes (using an ice cube tray) - and then we use a certain amount of cubes for Spanish rice, beans, stew, etc. Recipes for sofrito can be found on the internet, and one batch will last pretty long. It is worth a try!

I do have to brag about my new Staub pot. I have been dying for a Le Creuset or Staub for a long time. I know there are many debates out there about which brand is better - but I went with Staub. This pot was regularly $260, but I found in a store for $139! Yes, it is brand new lol. I think the color is so beautiful, although they had many different colors to choose from - this one was my favorite! Had to break this bad boy in with my first pot of stew, but I look forward to making many things to come.

Serves: 4-6
Cook time: 2 hours +

Ingredients:
6 cubes sofrito
4 oz (1/2 small can) tomato sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups water
1 tbs salt
1 1/2 lb chopped beef stew meat
6 carrots, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped and semi peeled
1 sweet potato, chopped and semi peeled
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 handful of green olives
1 lb (16 oz)  pasta - you can use egg noodles, cavatappi, -or- 2 cups white rice - whatever you choose!


Directions:

1. In a dutch oven on medium-high heat, Stir sofrito cubes, sauce, and olive oil until sauce-like. Add beef cubes, salt and water and lower the heat to medium/low (not too low!). You want to get a stead bubble going but not too rapid. Let cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

About 45 minutes before you will be ready to serve:
2. Add in the carrots, potatoes, and celery. Add hot water to the pot, just enough to almost cover everything and continue to cook on medium/low heat.
In another pot, boil pasta of your choice and drain.

3. Add in olives and stir. Serve stew over noodles/rice - enjoy!

Above: cubes of sofrito, tomato sauce and olive oil