Beef Stew with Mushrooms #35

Another one of Pioneer Woman's recipes.  This is a first for me, besides roast in a crock pot, I don't cook with beef.  But I love roast and I love mushrooms and I love roast and gravy over noodles- this couldn't look better.

The case:
Ingredients
2 pounds Beef Stew Meat (sirloin Cut Into Cubes)
2 Tablespoons Flour
4 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 whole Shallots, Minced
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
8 ounces, Cremini Or White Button Mushrooms
½ cups Red Wine
½ cans Beef Consomme
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Pasta - Cooked And Drained
2 sprigs Fresh Thyme
2 Tablespoons Flour

Instructions:

1.  Sprinkle flour over meat. Toss to coat.

2.  Melt butter with olive oil in heavy pot. Sear meat over high heat in batches; remove to a plate when brown.
3.  Add shallots and garlic to pan (without cleaning); saute for 2 minutes over medium-low heat. Add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes.

4.  Pour in wine and consomme (and add an extra half can of water at this time as well.) Then add salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Bring to a boil, then add back into the mix the browned meat. Reduce heat to low. Add thyme sprigs to pot.
5.  Cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
6.  After that time, mix 2 tablespoons flour with a little water and pour into the stew. Allow to cook and thicken for ten more minutes. Turn off heat and allow stew to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

The ruling:
I'm going to let my first attempt speak for itself. 

 

Apparently you shouldn't always listen to Rachel Ray and let the pot be waiting on you.  First, I smelt something burning, so I put the butter in thinking it was because nothing was in there.  Well, the butter started smoking like a freight train.  I turned off the eye, moved the oven over, and started fanning around the smoke alarm.  About that time, I heard a "whosh" sound, you know the kind you hear when something catches fire in a movie.  I don't think I've ever heard a sound like it in real life.  I turned around, and there were flames at least 6 inches over the pot.  I'll admit, I panicked a bit.  That has never happened to me before.  I knew grease fires couldn't have water poured on them, but what is a grease fire?  Finally, I remembered fires have to have oxygen, so I quickly put the top over the pot.  I know, back to 2nd grade.  My house was full of smoke.  I still don't see how butter cause that big of a fire or released all that smoke.

Attempt two went much better. 

I did mess up the flour in the water.  I made a paste and it didn't incorporate into the stew.  Apparently, you are supposed to double the water to the flour, but it wasn't too hard to pick out.  I put in cornstarch by itself instead, and it worked beautifully.  I love roast beef, and this was extremely good.  I only used 1/4 cup of wine.  I'm not a big fan of cooking with wine.  The mushrooms were amazing. (I used baby portabellas)  I will put more in next time.