Smoky Beef Stew with Blue Cheese and Chives

Made this yesterday and it was delicious!  Made half recipe but still way too much for us.  I used half red wine and half beef broth and baked for the recommended one and one half hours at 350.  The meat was not tender enough so I baked it an additional 30 minutes and that did the trick.  Except that there was about a third less sauce after the extra baking, I added some more broth and a splash of wine and that made it more of a stew.  I also added a handful of frozen peas at the end.  Next time will add an extra cup of broth at the start.  We liked the blue cheese and chives on top, but equally good without.

This is now a hubby favorite! I substitute one of the bottles of wine for beef broth but it is still amazing. Goes very well with a sourdough boule

Absolutely the best stew recipe ever. Time consuming but well worth the effort.

I am cooking this right now, and it smells wonderful. Has anyone else had their oven burst open with flames? SCARY!!! It happened at the 30 min mark, so I decided it was done with that phase. Besides, baking at 350 for an hour and a half seems excessive, maybe 300, next time. It was my first time cooking with a whole bottle of wine( i am single, so 1/2 batch) and I went with a dry red(Columbia Valley Chardon), but next time I boil it awhile longer before baking. I give it a 2 because it could have killed my cat, or singed my eyebrows, or worse!

We love beef bourguignon, and we love blue cheese, but this recipe showed me that they shouldn't necessarily co-habitate. While a little heat and a little smoke were tasty twists to dish, the blue cheese in this recipe amounts to nothing more than gilding the lily. It's really very good without, and overwhelmed with. I will definitely make this again, but without the cheese, which masks some very beautiful flavors.

The flavor of this stew was phenomenal! I loved the Smoked Paprika and the Chili Powder - truly a deep flavor. But, I found that the stew meat did not get tender as it cooked! All my stews done on the stove turn out "melt in your mouth". This did not. I may try it again and do it on the stove rather than the oven. I used high quality meat, so I think it must be the cooking technique.

This is a wonderful recipe. It is more time consuming than most stews, but well worth the effort. The blue cheese and chives are a must. I did decide to use 1 bottle wine and substituted broth for the second bottle...delicious! I am serving it tonight with crunchy french bread and a simple green salad!