Roasted Tomatoes and Leek Beef Stew

I made this dish for Nelson and Kimi a couple of weeks ago when they came over for dinner.  Nelson is on a diet with minimum carbs or no carbs.  Since I have to have a little carb, I made this dish to please everyone’s dietary needs.  At the end of the night, there was absolutely no leftover —it’s that tasty.  So tasty that I made it again last night.  It’s best served with warm crusty bread.  I love it when the sauce gets absorbed by the bread and gives it all that flavor.  Instead of using canned diced tomatoes in this stew, I thought roasted mini heirloom tomatoes would give it a bit more elegance and flavor.  Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound of mini heirloom tomatoes
• 5 cloves of garlic, divided (2 cloves smashed, 3 cloves finely chopped)
• extra virgin olive oil for roasting
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound of beef stew meat, cut 1″ cube
• 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
• olive oil for cooking
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves stripped and chopped
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 2/3 cup of white wine
• 2 leeks, cut lengthwise and sliced
• 1 large yukon gold potato, peeled and cut 1″ cube
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can of chicken broth
• fresh chives, finely chopped for garnish

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a cookie pan or a stainless steel pan, combine tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic (smashed), a drizzle (enough to coat tomatoes) of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.  Use your hands to mix everything.  Pop it into the oven and roast for 30 minutes or until tomatoes burst.  Remove from oven and set it aside.

In a medium bowl coat stew meat with flour.  In a large dutch oven over medium high heat brown stew meat, about 10 minutes.  Do not crowd your pot.  Do it in batches if necessary.  Transfer meat to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pot add onions and 3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped).  Cook until onions are soft, about 5 minutes.  Then add carrots, celery, red bell pepper, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf.  Cook for about 2-3 minutes then add tomato paste.  Stir tomato paste then pour in white wine.  Let it bubble and reduce.  About 1 minute.  Add leeks, potatoes, roasted tomatoes, stew meat and chicken broth.  Stir to combine and bring stew pot to a boil.  Reduce heat and let it simmer for 1 hour or until beef is tender.  Discard bay leaf and check for seasoning.  Ladle stew into the bowl and garnish with chives.  Serve this with crusty bread.