How To Thicken Up Stew In Slow Cooker

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My animal brain will be confused by September for as long as we live here in the Bay area, I think. I know our September is the hottest month of the year, but I can't stop thinking September=fall=apple pies and hearty stews. Fortunately last weekend wasn't too much of a scorcher, and this beef stew hit the spot. It takes a solid 30 minutes to prepare in the morning but can stay in the cooker 9 to 11 hours, so it's a candidate for a workday meal if you are able to carve out a big chunk of time in the morning (or do a lot of the prep the night before).

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This recipe is from America's Test Kitchen's Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook, and it addresses the problem of mushy vegetables with a trick that works, which I'll get to below. First, how to make a thick and flavorful sauce. I minced 1 onion and 3 garlic cloves and cooked in oil with 2 tablespoons tomato paste until the onions had softened.

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Next I stirred in 1 tablespoon flour and cooked for 1 minute, stirring to coat the vegetables with the flour. I gradually added 1 1/2 cups beef broth, although the stew was a bit salty, so next time I may make it with low-sodium beef broth or half broth and half water. I scraped that into the slow cooker, seasoned 2 pounds beef stew meat (chuck trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces) with salt and pepper, and stirred the meat into the sauce.

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So that the vegetables don't get mushy, they're steamed in a foil packet on top of the stew in the slow cooker. I cut up 4 red potatoes and 3 carrots (fairly small, maybe 1-inch pieces) and tossed with salt, pepper and olive oil. My piece of foil was too small, so I added another piece to the top and then rolled up the sides of the 2 pieces together to form a tight packet.

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I put the packet on top of the stew then put the lid on and cooked for 9 hours on low. After 9 hours I removed the packet and opened it very carefully (the steam inside the packet is really hot!). I stirred the vegetables into the stew and served with bread, butter and fruit.

This was half a recipe so it could easily be doubled.

More fall slow-cooker favorites:

10 Slow-Cooked Comfort Foods

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