I adapted this recipe from The Garden of Eating, one of my favorite cookbooks for nourishing recipes. Packed with tons of good lifestyle info, too! This is a great recipe for Fall; it has yummy root vegetables, and the addition of kombu seaweed makes it high in the trace minerals that are so lacking in American diets. These minerals are necessary for the cardiovascular and nervous systems. Always use organic, grass fed beef. Grain fed beef has an unfavorably altered fatty acid ratio, and let’s not even get into the devastation to the cows an the environment caused by factory farming.
She says in the book that the keys to a good stew are to brown the veggies before adding them and to deglaze the pan. I can attest that the broth was the best I’ve had in any stew, but the root veggies turned a bit mushy, so make sure you do not pre-brown them too long. I wouldn’t actually let the root veggies caramelize, but the onions and mushrooms turned out perfectly. This recipe freezes well.
Beef & Vegetable Stew
3-4 cups beef broth + big splash red wine
4 sheets of kombu, chopped or crumbled
2 lbs grass fed boneless chuck, cut into 1.5″ cubes (can also use bison)
1 large yellow onion, cubed
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, quartered
3 carrots, sliced
1 or 2 turnips, cut into chunks
1 large celery root bulb, peeled and cubed
2-3 parsnips, sliced
1 rutabaga, cut into chunks
(you should have about 6 cups of root vegetables. Use any combo you like)
6 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 tbsp coconut or olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp cumin
1-2 tbsp tamari
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
Rinse meat and pat dry. Chop vegetables and place onion, mushrooms, and garlic in one bowl and root veggies in another. Add 3 cups stock, wine, and seaweed to large dutch oven and bring to boil. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in large cast iron skillet. Add half of the meat and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes, then transfer meat to dutch oven with broth from browning. Add rest of meat, brown, repeat. Set to low simmer. Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup of broth and add to dutch oven.
Add 1 tbsp oil to skillet and saute mushrooms, onions, and garlic til tender; add to dutch oven. Deglaze pan again. Add more oil to skillet if needed and toss in root veggies. Let them soften a bit but don’t brown them (unless you like very soft veggies in stew). Add them to dutch oven. Add spices and everything else to the stew. Add more broth if desired (I like a very thick stew). Cover and let simmer 45 minutes to an hour. Taste to correct seasonings. Remove bay leaves before serving. Garnish with scallions if desired.
Mary Vance is a Certified Nutrition Consultant and author specializing in digestive health. She combines a science-based approach with natural therapies to rebalance the body. In addition to her 1:1 coaching, she offers courses to help you heal your gut and improve your health. Mary lives in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe in Northern California. Read more about her coaching practice here and her background here.
