It’s officially autumn – or fall – in this corner of the world. And that means we can start thinking about warming food. Food like stews and casseroles! Slow cooked numbers that fill the house with comforting aromas as they work their magic over an afternoon in the oven. My favourite kinds of food…
This number is 100% AIP compliant.
Not even a drop of wine in this baby. Traditionally, a good hearty stew will have a healthy dose of red wine. And, technically that is allowed on the protocol – the alcohol will be cooked off.
But this recipe doesn’t even have that. Mainly, because LM isn’t all that fond of alcohol. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, alcohol isn’t so fond of LM.
So, this is a tee-totalling stew, too!
(Image by LM for TSL)
Stew’s so comforting on a rainy day.
(Dodie Smith, ‘I Capture the Castle’)
The best thing about a good stew is that it really is a doddle to make. Simply brown your meat, sauté some veggies, throw in some good quality bone broth or stock and some aromatics, pop it into your oven and walk away. Its that simple.
So simple that even a non-cook can make a great stew!
And, I know I’m always banging on about doubling a recipe or cooking once to eat twice or thrice, but I’m going to say it again. Especially here, when making a stew. Because as with a good Ragu Bolognese, it’s just as easy to cook a large portion of stew and freeze leftovers for those days you just don’t feel like spending hours in the kitchen. So, to make your life SUPER easy, this recipe is enough to comfortably feed 6 already…
(Image by LM for TSL)
This really is the easiest stew recipe. And, because it is so easy, it’s also a great one to experiment with. Feel like adding mushrooms? Or perhaps some parsnip? Maybe you don’t have rosemary handy and want to use a different herb? Or, you have some lamb in your meat locker instead of beef (in which case, can I suggest some mint?)… The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
Go forth and make stew!
- 1.5 kilos diced chuck steak/braising beef
- 1½ Tablespoons tapioca flour
- fat of choice
- 3 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Zest of one orange
- 4 x sprigs fresh rosemary
- Salt
- 800mls bone broth
- Heat your oven to 180° C/ 350°F.
- Coat your diced beef in tapioca flour. I find the best way to do this is to take a large plastic bag. Pop your meat and flour into the bag. Seal and roll it all around until the meat is covered.
- Pop a heavy bottomed casserole dish over a medium-high heat (I use my le Creuset) and add a little fat. Brown your meat in batches, setting aside in a bowl as each batch is nicely caramelised.
- When your meat is all browned and set aside, add a little more fat to the pan. Gently sauté the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary and orange zest until softened. Add the apple cider vinegar to the pan and give everything a good stir.
- Add the bone broth and a good pinch of salt.
- Bring to a gentle boil, pop on a lid and place into the oven for three hours.
- The meat should now be meltingly tender! Check for seasoning before discarding the rosemary stalks.
- Serve!
E N J O Y !
This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable
Nothing like slow cooked meat and veg on a cold winters day. Looks delicious. Kx
LM gave his two thumbs up approval, K.
Looks great, although I will miss the red wine.
You know you can always add it, DW… 🙂
Yum~! And I love planned leftovers…
My favourite part… 🙂
OMG so good had to go back for seconds. You can taste the orange and rosemary very light not heavy like a lot of stews. Made with our very own Linga Longa Farm Certified Grass Fed Beef check us out at http://www.buymeat.com.au We love having Jo as one of our favourite customers and she has a cute dog Bella