Stoofvlees met friete

1½ 	pound beef stew meat
1 	small red onion
3 	garlic cloves
2 	rosemary sprigs
2 	tablespoons red wine vinegar
1	tablespoon coarse mustard
3 	tablespoons oil
	pepper salt
	butter or oil
1 	large onion
2 	cups beef broth
3 	bay leaves
2 	tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼	teaspoon sweet paprika powder
¼	teaspoon mustard powder 
1 	tablespoon molasses
	pepper
	salt

First of all, a day ahead, you need to marinate your meat. Cut your beef into 1/2 inch cubes, put in a big Ziplok bag. Slice your red onion and chop the garlic and add to the bag. Leave the rosemary in on the stem and add the remaining ingredients. Shake up the bag a bit to mix all the ingredients nice and good. Leave the bag sit in the fridge overnight. Take meat out of the bag and remove rosemary sprigs. Combine flour, paprika, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl and sprinkle over meat. Medium dice the onion. Heat 2 tablespoons butter or oil in a saucepan or preferably a Dutch oven. Add the meat and onions and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until meat is nicely browned. Pour the beef broth over the meat, add the bay leaves. simmer for 45 minutes, add molasses, simmer 45 more minutes. After a total of 90 minutes, take the lid off and simmer 15 more minutes. (You may have to add some beef broth in case the stew gets too thick. Check and stir every 15 minutes or so.) Remove the bay leaves and season the stew with lots of pepper and a little salt to taste.
Now the next step is completely optional. Call it a personal preference. I've taken 1/3 to 1/2 of the stew meat out and given it a few blitzes in my food processor, so it ended up as little meat threads. This will thicken everything even more and make the stew really stick to your fries, it's great! Put it back in with the rest — if it's too thick, just add a little beef broth until you have a sauce consistency you like — and simmer the stew for another 5 minutes.

This stew is amazing served with some crispy french fries! It can hold its own, but if you wanna "wow" yourself and others, serve it with french fries.

SERVES:							 SOURCE: WSJ, 1.21.2011