Spring Beef and Vegetable Stew
This fresh spring vegetable and beef stew is perfect for those early spring days when the sun is bright and the air is crisp! Always good to sit down to a nice hot dish that has much of the protein, veggies and flavor that you want in a balanced meal. Just add a green side salad and french bread. Et voila! ~ You’ve got yourself a delicious lunch or dinner.
In good health and
Bon Appetit!
Xo Lisa
Ingredients:
1.5 lb beef stew meat
½ cup flour
1 tbsp. Garlic powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp of ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion diced
1 tsp. Fine chopped fresh garlic
2 Tbsp. of tomato paste
1 Tsp. of sugar
2 cups of low sodium beef broth
2 cups of water
½ cup of red or white wine
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
3 stalks of celery washed and trimmed, cut into ½ inch slices
4 carrots peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces
1 turnip peeled and diced into ¾ inch cubes
3 medium white new potatoes washed skin on, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 Tbsp. of Worcestershire Sauce
½ cup of frozen green peas
2 Tbsp. corn starch
3 tbsp. Water
To garnish:
¼ lb. Blanched green beans until cooked through about 5 minutes, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces.
1 bunch of Blanched radishes until cooked through about 8 minutes, trimmed of the green and cut into quarters.
Cooking instructions:
- Mix ½ cup flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper together in a zip lock bag or a shallow pan.
- Heat 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a dutch oven or saute pan- depends on whether you will cook stew in a dutch oven on the stovetop or in a slow cooker in which case you can do the initial browning of the meat in a saute pan.. ( I almost always opt for a slow cooker because I’m busy and it relieves me of the responsibility of attending to a pot.)
- Dredge the beef stew pieces in the flour and gently shake off excess.
- When the oil is hot, place floured beef pieces in the pan and brown on both sides. Remove beef and set aside. This may require 2 or 3 batches. Make sure there is sufficient oil to fry an extra batch. You may need to add a tsp. or more of oil to the pan.
- In the same pan/pot that you browned the beef, add the chopped onions. Cook and stir onions for 3 or 4 minutes until softened a bit. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- To the cooking onions add your 2 Tbsp. Of tomato paste. Mix around and cook for 2 more minutes. To this add your chopped garlic and a tsp. Sugar to balance the tomato onion.
- To tomato-onion-garlic, add 2 cups of low sodium beef broth, 2 cups of water and ½ cup of red wine.
- Add your fresh herbs, rosemary and thyme. Add bay leaves.
- Add the beef back into the onion stock wine liquid. Cover and let cook on low fire for an hour . Or in the slow cooker on low for 2 hours.
- After cooking for an hour or 2, add your chopped vegetables, celery, carrots, turnips and potatoes. Let cook for another hour on the stovetop on low heat or 2 hours in a slow cooker, stirring occasionally.
- To finish the stew, season with worcestershire sauce and add your frozen peas. Check for salt and pepper. Mix cornstarch with water to make a slurry, mix into stew which will thicken nicely.
- Garnish with green beans and radishes.
- Enjoy!
Notes: Beef should be tender and vegetables soft but not mushy. Can be served with rice or mashed potatoes.