Tender Beef and Rice Stew

I love stew on cold winter days. It's such a comfort food. My goal with this stew was to have really tender meat, which is why I recommend marinating the meat so long. I also found that by adding caramelized onions, it added a wonderful flavor.

2 lbs beef chuck
Italian salad dressing
White wine

Prior to making this stew marinate the beef chuck in about 1/2 cup of salad dressing and lots of white wine for a couple of days, this will make your meat very tender.

3 tbs olive oil
1 large onion
5 cloves minced garlic
1 cup dry brown rice
8 sliced Crimini mushrooms
salt and pepper
1 14 ounce can whole tomatoes
1 tbs dried thyme
2 cups beef broth
1 tbs chantarelle bullion
1 cup Italian dressing
Salt and pepper

On medium-high heat fry onion and minced garlic in 2 tbs olive oil until carmalized and very soft, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile boil 2 cups of water, add rice, cover and bring to a simmer until onion/garlic is done, and remove from heat. Set garlic/onion mixture aside. In the same pan add remaining olive oil. Cut up chuck into 2 inch pieces, salt and pepper; then brown in batches just slightly on all sides. Do not overcook meat, or it will become tough.. Place stew meat in crock pot. Drain half cooked rice-add to crock-pot. Cut other half onion into slices and mushrooms, fry for about 2 minutes in pan over medium heat-add sliced onion, mushrooms and caramelized onion/garlic to crock pot.
Cut whole tomatoes into small pieces. Add tomatoes and thyme to crock pot. Add beef broth, Chantarelle bullion, and Italian salad dressing.
Heat crock pot on low all day, for at least 8 hours, and you will have tender, and delicious stew for dinner! When you come home add 1 tbs flour to thicken if needed, and enjoy!


***A note about Chantarelle Bullion***
I love chantarelle bullion, I use it in gravies, soups, and various other recipes where I want a tasty mushroom flavor. I get this bottle called Touch of Taste, by Bond. I get it in Sweden, but you can buy it online