Crockpot beef stew with secret ingredient
This is an amazing beef stew I threw together based on a quick description from someone who entered something similiar in a company crockpot contest. (I'd give her credit but I never caught her name.) She said the secret ingredients were red wine and hoisin sauce, which you can get in the Asian section of your grocery store.
Here's my rough recipe. I don't usually measure much, so you may want to improvise:
1 pound stew beef 2 cups broth 3/4 cup red wine 2/3 cup or more hoisin sauce chunks of veggies - I use onion, carrot and potato 1 teaspoon salt or more to your taste peas cornstarch Throw everything in the crockpot together except the peas and cornstarch. Cook 6-7 hours on low. Turn off heat and add peas. (I usually add them straight from the freezer.) Scoop out about 1/4 cup of the broth, and mix into that about 1 1/2 teaspoons for cornstarch. (Or more depending on how thick you like your stew.) Return the cornstarch mixture to the pot, stir, and let sit for a while before serving or putting in the fridge. You can also add more hoisin sauce at this time if you want to heighten the flavor.
This stew is so easy and yet tastes so special. Turns out perfectly every time.
