Years ago, when I was pregnant with my fourth son, I discovered my favorite beef stew recipe ever. It was 
February of 2007, I believe, as I was enjoying an episode of Emeril Live on the Food Channel. The episode was geared for college students that wanted to cook real food in their dorms, and Emeril shared a fabulous recipe for beef stew done in the crockpot. At that point in my life, I had NEVER made beef stew. Truth be told, I really didn’t eat all that much beef at the time, but I had a growing family to feed and nourish. I decided to try it, and boy was I glad I did. At the time I remember it being very rich and even too heavy for my pregnant belly that was not used to beef. However, these days I eagerly look forward to fall and winter just so I can make this awesome crockpot beef stew.
I have tweaked Emeril’s original recipe slightly, simply to make it gluten free and to use homemade beef stock. It’s simple to throw together and a great way to make your whole house smell amazing. I love to make a big batch and have plenty of leftovers, so this recipe is for quite a large amount. I’d say you could feed 8-10 people with this crockpot beef stew.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 pounds grassfed beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
- 2 tablespoons of homemade taco seasoning or other similar spice blend
- 1/2-1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 10 ounces button mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 5 tablespoons arrowroot
- 4-5 cups homemade veal or beef stock, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons organic tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme (non-irradiated)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (non-irradiated)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil (non-irradiated)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, cut into a small dice (substitute turnips if needed)
- 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
- 1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions, thawed OR onion diced
- garlic cloves, smashed and coarsely chopped, as many as you like (optional)
- 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
- handful chopped fresh parsley(optional)
Instructions:
- Set the beef out and bring to room temperature.
- Toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper and seasoning.
- In a large cast iron skillet heat some lard over medium high heat.
- Brown the beef on all sides in two batches.
- Add the butter, mushrooms, flour, veal stock, tomato paste, herbs, spices, and browned meat to a slow cooker.
- Cover the crockpot and set the temperature to high.
- Cook for 1 hour.
- Add the potatoes, carrots and onions (if using fresh diced onions) and continue to cook the stew for another 7 hours.
- During the last hour of cooking, add the pearl onions (if using) and replace the lid. Once the stew is cooked, stir in the peas and parsley and serve immediately.
- To make this a GAPS friendly stew, omit the arrowroot and potatoes and use turnips.
- To make a thicker gravy remove cooked turnips with some broth and puree until a thick paste. Add back into the stew and stir. Do this before the last hour of cooking.
This post contributed to Real Food Wednesdays, Monday Mania and Fat Tuesdays. (photo credit)
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Lydia Joy Shatney is a certified Nutritional Therapist Practitioner through the Nutritional Therapy Association. Additionally, she is the chapter leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation in Delaware County, Pa. (Find the group here on Facebook). Lydia is also a member of the Nourished Living Network. Lydia founded Divine Health in March of 2010. You can find Lydia on Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Beef stew is one of my #1 comfort foods especially with the cooler weather right around the corner! Thanks for stopping by Monday Mania, Lydia, to share this creative rendition with all of us!
Hi,
This post is so informative. I would love for you to come
share it at FAT TUESDAY. I hope you will
put FAT TUESDAY on your list of carnivals to visit
and link to each week!
http://realfoodforager.com/2011/09/fat-tuesday-september-27-2011/
Hi Lydia, I love beef stew. It is comforting and exactly what we need after all the rain we’ve been getting.
Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. Hope to see you next week! Be sure to visit RealFoodForager.com on Sunday for
Sunday Snippets – your post from Fat Tuesday may be featured there!
http://realfoodforager.com/2011/09/fat-tuesday-september-27-2011/