Swedish Fall - Beef Stew with Le Creuset

The leaves seems to be set on fire with the colours of fall and I must say I really love fall's sunset. Seems like heaven and earth joined as one as the orangey red of the setting sun bleeds into the crowns of the soon-to-be-bare trees.

All these reminds me of my lovely Le Creuset pot and of beef stew! I just love having beef stew with rice, something about the thick gravy with potatoes, carrots and celery hits my cold spots just right. I forgot the recipe which I made beef stew before so I consulted a few sites and finally came out with this one, limited only by what is available in the house:

Ingredients
500 g beef chunks, floured lightly
400 ml hot meat stock
300ml red wine
5 strips of bacon
2 dried bay leaves
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced thinly
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 carrots - peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
4-5 small size potatoes - peeled and halved
2 celery sticks
1 tablespoon black peppercorn - those used for stewing, they tend to be a bit larger otherwise you can also use the normal ones
Salt and ground black pepper

Steps

1. Fry up the bacon till it is crispy, set it aside.
2. Adding a knob of butter to the residue oil from the bacon, add in the chopped onions and sliced garlic, fry till soften.
3. Add in the lightly floured beef chunks, stir fry for a few seconds and add in the hot meat stock.
4. Add in the red wine and tomato puree.Bring it to a boil then turn the heat down to low.
5. Throw in the carrots, celery, potatoes, tomatoes, black peppercorns and bay leaves. Leave it to simmer for 3-4 hours, depending on your cut of beef. 
6. When it is about done, season with salt and ground black pepper according to taste. Serve with rice.