Beef Stew

Chilly fall and winter days call for a good soup, and some form of beef stew is usually in the mix at our house. I make it in different ways…sometimes with wine, sometimes with Worcestershire sauce, and this time, with mustard. Sounds weird, but I got inspired after seeing a recipe incorporating it into another beef dish, and it ended up working. This dish can get a little salty if you don’t watch it so go easy on the salt when you are seasoning the meat.

 

I also made this onion-free for those who are breastfeeding or need to avoid onions for other reasons, but if you prefer onions to fennel, feel free to make that substitution.

 

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Serves 4

 

1 fennel bulb

3 carrots

5-6 medium sized potatoes

1 lb stew meat (beef)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

32 oz beef stock (low sodium if you can find it)

1 tbsp yellow mustard

1 tbsp low sodium tamari soy sauce

½ tsp dried rosemary

¼ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp pepper

 

Cut the bottom and top off of the fennel, and then remove the outside layer (these and other veggie trimmings can be frozen to use to make vegetable stock). Cut the fennel into larger chunks. With a vegetable peeler, peel the outsides off of the carrots, and trim the ends. Cut the carrots in half lengthwise and then cut them into chunky half moon shapes. Scrub the potatoes and then cut them into larger chunks. If the stew meat is a little larger, cut it into smaller chunks. They should be still nice and chunky, but you want to make sure that everyone gets enough meat in their portion.

 

In a Dutch oven or large pot on medium-high heat, add 1 tbsp olive oil, stew meat, salt and pepper. Brown the meat on the outside, but do not cook all the way through, cooking for about 5 mins total. Remove the meat from the pot and place it in a bowl. Add the remaining olive oil, fennel, and carrots. Saute for about 5 mins until the veggies begin to soften. Add the beef stock, mustard, tamari, rosemary, and potatoes, and then cover the pot, turn up the heat to a higher heat, and cook for about 15 mins. Turn down the heat to medium-high, add the beef and any juices that have been released into the soup and cook for an additional 5 mins.