Step By Step Recipes {beef mushroom potato stew}

Tags

autumn, beef, fall, gluten free, grain free, paleo, recipe, red wine, soup, step by step, stew

Is it Friday already? Damn this week flew by. I joined the “trulycommited”-challenge by Truly Jess this month, which is Instagram-based though she became popular due to her YouTube-channel, and I already forgot to shoot the third picture. But nevermind, if you consider the goals I set for myself, I did pretty good yesterday: I spent the whole afternoon writing on my master thesis and took care of my soul by watching our favorite series with Jay in the evening. I am sorry guys, but that also means that blogging will be reduced to about four times per week, since I need the extra time to focus on my priorities for the next three months. I bet you’ll understand. Life needs to come first sometimes and four posts are still quite a lot.

But enough talk done, I promised a recipe and though I’ll save the Butternut Chard Soup for another post, I have a seasonal stew for you, that Jay loved (probably due to the fact that it is one of the first meals I made in weeks that doesn’t include pumpkin):

Beef Mushroom Potato Stew

yields 5 portions

1 T extra virgin olive oil
3 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup shredded carrot
dash of salt

1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 pound beef for stew
dash of salt

2 1/2 cups potatoes, cubed
2 cubes vegetable stock
1 cup dry red wine

2 cups mushrooms
2 cups dark leafy greens (I used chard, but spinach or kale would also work great)

salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp chili *optional

1. Cut up the shallots, garlic and grate the carrot.

2. Preheat the pan with one tablespoon of olive oil. Place the cut up vegetables inside and turn the heat on medium. Season with a dash of salt and fry for 5 minutes while constantly stirring.

3. When done, transfer the fried vegetables to a bowl and fill one tablespoon of olive oil in the pan for…

3. the beef. Place the cubes of beef in the pan, turn the heat on high and fry until they are browned from all sites.

4. Cut the potatoes in cubes, place in a big pot on the stove.

5. Transfer the beef and the fried vegetables into the pot, don’t forget the juice from the beef. Fill with water until everything is just covered. Turn the heat on medium low.

6. Measure a cup of dry red wine and add to the pot, as well as the vegetable stock. Close the lid and let simmer for 45 minutes.

6. Pour yourself a glas of red wine while waiting.

7. Slice the mushrooms and chop your greens. Add them to the pot and let simmer for 5 more minutes without the lid.

8. Add your thyme (and chili if you use it), and salt and pepper to taste. Eat while still hot and save the remaining for the next day.
Seriously this dish tastes a lot better the next day when all of the juices and spices could pervade. It takes some time to make the stew but not a lot of effort. So this would be a great meal to make if you have to answer some mails or comment on a few blog posts, while the beef is simmering. Don’t cut the simmer-time since otherwise your meat will not turn out as soft as it should. And that’s what stew is all about, right? Soft cubes of beef melting in your mouth.

This warming dish contains seasonal vegetables and I enjoyed using the more firm young red potatoes, but you could definitely use a soft-cooking variation to thicken the broth up a bit. Sweet potatoes would also work great if you are not a fan of their white fleshed fella. But keep in mind – a white potato is nothing processed, it’s not the same as white rice versus the whole grain variety, it’s still a healthy carbohydrate especially if you don’t peel the skin off. Hope you enjoy a warm stew for lunch or dinner, while fall weather is all cold and rainy, as much as I do!

Have a beautiful weekend and stay tuned for my vegan soup recipe from this weeks WIAW and a delicious, easy to make trail mix for healthy study snacking. I’ll probably make a whole healthy-snacks-sum up with it.