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Autumn’s Harvest Stew
I had no idea what to call this new concoction. Someone hinted at ‘Autumn Meditation‘. I liked that. If anything, making a stew is really zen and meditative. It’s a slow process; the slower it’s cooked the better. Not to mention all the chopping involved.
Now this is a fairly basic and straight-forward stew. In my world that means good-quality beef, an awful lot of fresh vegetables and eventually a delicious gravy that’s thick as a sauce.
A friend of mine suggested I try adding pumpkin and parsnip for a change. I was intrigued. It’s not something I would have come up with myself, mainly because the guys here don’t care for pumpkin, but it turned out to be a major hit. It seemed to give the stew a sweetness and mellowness that especially my son liked a lot.
All in all, this stew is rich, decadent and irresistible.
Ingredients:
2 pound good-quality stewing steak
1 large onion
1 large carrot
2 large potatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 medium parsnip
1 small pumpkin
3 cups beef broth
sprinkling dried thyme
15 brussels sprouts
salt and pepper
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
butter or oil
Directions:
Combine the flour with the paprika powder, mustard powder, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Either mince the onions or, like me, turn them into quart-rings. Grate the garlic.
Cut the beef in chunks and don’t make them too small. Sprinkle the seasoned flour mix all over.
Heat some butter or oil, whatever you prefer, and quickly brown the beef cubes. Transfer them to a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep them warm.
Don’t overcrowd the pan, brown the beef cubes in small batches.
Sauté the onion for 4 minutes. Add the garlic and give it another minute.
Put the meat back in with the onions and pour in the beef broth.
Add the bay leaves. Optionally you can add one or two beef herb envelopes (Maggi rundvlees kruidenbuiltjes).
Pop the lid on, bring it up to a boil and simmer the beef for 2 to 2 and a half hours.
After almost 2 hours you clean up the sprouts and peel the carrot, parsnip, potatoes and pumpkin. Chop it all in equal bit-sized pieces.
After two and a half hours my beef nearly melted on my tongue. Heavenly.
In with the vegetables. Mix it all up.
Season with a pinch of salt (be moderate, you can add more later), dried thyme and pepper.
Bring it back to a boil and simmer the stew for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Stir now and then.
Discard the bay leaves and taste to check the seasoning. Adjust when needed.
Nothing like a hearty beef stew to warm you up on a cold day.
| Autumn’s Harvest Stew | |||||||||
| Ingredients |
1 large onion 1 large carrot 2 large potatoes 2 garlic cloves 1 medium parsnip 1 small pumpkin 3 cups beef broth sprinkling dried thyme 15 brussels sprouts salt and pepper 2 tbsp all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp mustard powder 1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/8 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp salt 2 bay leaves butter or oil Optionally: nutmeg Directions |
|
Cut the beef in chunks and don’t make them too small. Sprinkle the seasoned flour mix all over. Heat some butter or oil, whatever you prefer, and quickly brown the beef cubes in small batches. Transfer them to a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep them warm. Sauté the onion for 4 minutes. Add the garlic and give it another minute. Put the meat back in with the onions and pour in the beef broth. Add the bay leaves. Optionally you can add one or two beef herb envelopes (Maggi rundvlees kruidenbuiltjes). Pop the lid on, bring it up to a boil and simmer the beef for 2 to 2 and a half hours. After almost 2 hours you clean up the sprouts and peel the carrot, parsnip, potatoes and pumpkin. Chop it all in equal bit-sized pieces. Add all the vegetables to the beef, stir well and season with a pinch of salt, pepper and dried thyme. Be moderate, you can add more later. Bring it back to a boil and simmer the stew for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Stir now and then. Discard the bay leaves and taste to check the seasoning. Adjust when needed. Meal type: |
beef, dinner, stews |
Servings: |
4 |
Copyright: |
© kayotickitchen.com |
|
21 Comments »
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Yumm looks great, Im trying to get my family used to eating what they call floating food, I grew up eating wonderful english stews but never really learnt how to make one so I am always looking for the the perfect recipe!!!
Maybe as a request I would like to see on your blog some kind of guinness beef stew :)
Must admit I’ve never made stew with Guinness beer. Doubt I will because my 5 y/o wouldn’t be able to eat that.
There is a very similar recipe on this site from 2008 that has beer in it. I’m sure you can substitute Guinness Christine. Or add it to any stew recipe. It’s called “Dutch Winter Stew”.
This sounds so good!! I’ll have to give it a try :)
This looks wonderful! I’ll bet it would be really yummy, after browning the meat in a pan, to put it all in the slow cooker all day on low. (I’m in love with my slow cooker.)
I have made beef stew with Guinness and the alcohol cooks off–my kids ate it fine.
I also add a spoonful of Marmite to beef stew (though I’m not English, my husband is), and it adds an extra deep dimension.
Actually, I always thought alcohol cooked off but recently I’ve heard it only vanishes almost entirely when a dish is cooked for at least 3 to 4 hours. Just to be safe I don’t cook with alcohol when my son eats along.
I once had a slow cooker and oh man, the thing even kept the food boiling when I set it to ‘keep warm’. But slow cookers are still fairly new in the Netherlands, so I might try another brand sometime.
I always leave my slow cooker on for about 8 hours so I’m sure the Guiness’s alcohol was long gone, though the nice deep flavor was still there. (Next time I will add less salt as the Guinness seemed to make it seem saltier.)
I love my slow cooker–it’s not a hugely expensive model but the thing I like about it most is that it has a locking lid so I can take it with me if I need to.
I used it a lot for ‘hachee’ (a Dutch beef stew) and split pea soup, but I did find that whenever I made something that had leeks in it, it all came out tasting the same, no matter what the dish was.
Just have to find one that doesn’t get as hot as the last one.
Excellent dish! And the photos are awsome toooooo!
What a beautiful stew! I love the colors of the bowl you used to mix the flour and seasonings. Never had brussels sprouts in a stew. Great idea. They look lovely with the other vegs. Some kind of cabbage really makes a stew or soup, I think. My mother called them “baby cabbages.” Yum-mmm.
I love a big chunky stew, loads of awesome veggies in yours. A complete meal in one bowl…perfect!
Oh my goodness gracious sakes alive of the babies of the world. YUM.
I love how you put brussel sprouts in the stew! I bet they’re delicious that way.
If you find that the slow cookers you are buying run too hot, you might look in the attics of friends and relatives. The older slow cookers had a very low “Low” setting, and it was determined that putting cold food in the cooker and cooking on low did not bring the food up to temperature quickly enough to ensure food safety. So all the newer cookers have changed to a higher temp for “Low.”
I feel I am smart enough to handle having a low temperature available to me, so I like the good old “almost antique” slow cookers. You can reliably simmer on low without burning up your food or evaporating more moisture than you would prefer.
I must say that I have no idea whether this information is accurate for appliances not made in the US.
Then you need one of these petroleum stoked slow cookers. My grandma swears by them. ;-)
http://www.seniorplaza.nl/PetroleumstelB.jpg
I have two of them! My grandmother used one all the time and it makes her soup and stews phenomenal. Time to get some petroleum, I think.
Pumpkin in a beef stew? I’m pretty sure your friend is my new hero. So excited to try this tomorrow; it looks GORGEOUS.
I just made the stew and it was fantastic! I don’t like parsnips, but I had a bunch sitting around. Cooking the parsnips in the stew brought out the sweetness that everyone is always telling me about. So not only was the stew great, but it also allowed me to enjoy parsnips for the first time. Thank you very much for this recipe. I am so glad to have found your site.
I subscribe to your blog but have not been receiving any mail for a long time. I tried re-subscribing but was unable to do so. What can be done? I thoroughly enjoy and anticipate receiving your posts. Please help! Thank you
Could you use sweet potato’s instead of pumkin?
I love vegetables, and stews are one of my favorite things to cook them into; when my parents were still alive, I made a stew very similar to this one (though this has me intrigued, and am going to get the ingredients and make it next week). I put rutabaga in it–never thought of pumpkin, but certainly love it, so will try that–as well as loads of ‘snips (love, love, love parsnips!!)–and the whole house smelled fabulous from all the veggies cooking along with the meat!
Want to try this one ASAP; thanks for the wonderful recipe!