Italian Style Beef Stew with Butternut Squash

With winter officially coming around and actually feeling cold, I was in the mood for stew. Nothing says comfort like a hearty bowl full of stew, so I came across an interesting Italian style beef stew with butternut squash from closet cooking which we slightly modified and came out delicious.  This is a wonderful recipe that is great on its own but I recommend having your favorite type of bread to compliment this stew dish. Serving this would be great for winter and this upcoming Christmas holiday.

Ingredients:

1 pound beef (cut into 1 inch cubes)

2 ounces pancetta (diced)

1 pound butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes)

1/2 bag of pearl onions  (8 oz.)

1 cup Italian red wine

3 cups beef broth

1 splash balsamic vinegar

3 cloves garlic (chopped)

1 tablespoon rosemary (chopped)

1 tablespoon thyme (chopped)

1/4 cup sundried tomatoes (chopped)

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes with garlic & oregano

salt and pepper to taste

chopped parsley (optional)

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional, to taste)

Directions:

1.  First and foremost, you will need to cut up the butternut squash into 1 inch cubes.

2. Soak the sun dried tomato in room temperature water for about 5-10 munutes, then chop it up into small bit pieces and set aside.

3. Mince the three cloves of garlic and set aside.

4. Preheat pan and cook the pancetta for about a minute.

5. Then add in the cubed beef and brown on all sides with the pancetta and set aside.

6. Add the pearl onions and saute in the pancetta grease until transparent (approximately 3-5 minutes).

7. Combine the garlic, rosemary, thyme, red pepper flakes (optional) and saute for a few minutes.

8. Add the wine and deglaze the pot.

9. Then proceed to add the beef, broth, balsamic vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes, diced tomatoes, parmigiano reggiano rind, oregano, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

10. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer until the beef is nice and tender, about 1-2 hours.

11. Finally, add the butternut squash and let it simmer until it’s tender for about 15-20 minutes.

12. Now it is ready to serve and enjoy!