Red Wine Beef Stew with Potatoes and Green Beans

This is a pretty good beef stew recipe. I abhor white onions, but if you like them, the original recipe called for 3 diced onions. I feel sick just typing that.

2 pounds beef chuck for stew, cut into 1-inch cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
4 medium carrots, peeled, halved and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans reduced-sodium beef or chicken broth
2 cups dry red wine
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 medium russet or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 handfuls green beans, ends trimmed

Season the beef cubes lightly with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. As soon as the butter starts to turn brown, add half the beef and raise the heat to high. At first, the beef will give off some liquid, but once that evaporates, the beef will start to brown. Cook, turning the beef cubes on all sides until the pieces are as evenly browned as possible, about 5 or 6 minutes after the water has boiled off. If the pan starts to get too brown at any point, just turn down the heat a little. Scoop the beef into a bowl and brown the rest of the beef the same way using the remaining butter.

Scoop out the second batch of beef, then add the carrots and a splash of the wine to deglaze. Raise the heat to medium-high, and stir in the flour, adding more wine if necessary, until it the flour is completely absorbed.

Transfer the mixture to a crockpot set to high. make sure you get all of the browned bits out of the saucepan. Pour the beef broth, wine, and crushed tomatoes, and rosemary into the crockpot. Slide the beef back into the pot and simmer for at least an hour on High.

Stir the potatoes into the stew, and cook on High until the potatoes and beef are tender, stirring occasionally, about another 45 minutes. Add the beans and cook for another 5 minutes until the green beans turn bright green and are cooked through but still have a nice snap.

--Adapted from Dave Lieberman