Like any good recipe, beef stew always begins by using fresh organic vegetables and the best quality of meat that you can find. I always source my meat from a local farm like Markegard Family Grass-Fed Farms. Their frozen bone broth is great in this recipe. You can also buy Butchers Bone Broth at Whole Foods.
Ingredients
- Seasonings: Organic Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Pepper and Salt. I prefer Redmond’s Real Salt.
- A few tablespoons of duck fat or lard. Renderings from your breakfast bacon are just fine!
- 2 Pounds of Beef Stew Meat
- 2 Large Yellow Onions
- 3 or 4 Parsnips
- 3 or 4 Carrots
- 1 Large Peeled Rutabaga
- 1 or 2 Turnips
- 1 Qt. Beef Bone Broth
- 2 or 3 Cups Good Quality Dry Red Wine
- 1 can Amy’s Cream of Mushroom Soup or Muir Glenn Tomato Paste
- Half Pound New Potatoes or Yukon Gold Potatoes
- One Bay Leaf
- One Sprig of Rosemary and Thyme
- Optional: Bionaturae Gluten Free Noodles, Bob’s Red Mill Polenta or Ancient Harvest Polenta
Directions
- Season your stew meat with salt and pepper
- Place a small amount of duck fat or lard (animal fat does not turn carcinogenic with high heat) in a cast iron skillet and gently warm
- Saute seasoned stew meat in the duck fat or lard until browned
- Remove meat from skillet and set aside
- Coarsely chop the onions, parsnips, carrots, rutabaga, turnips and potatoes and season
- Place all of the veggies in a large crock pot or dutch oven
- Add the beef bone broth and red wine
- Add in the beef stew meat and cover with the cream of mushroom soup or tomato paste
- Lay the bay leaf and sprigs of rosemary and thyme on top
- Cover and simmer for 2-4 hours until the stew meat and vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork. Time varies depending on your altitude.
- Optional: Make noodles or polenta 10 minutes before stew is ready
- Excellent served alone in a bowl or over large flat gluten free noodles or polenta
- Beef stew freezes extremely well! Portion out your servings in mason jars before freezing. When you are ready to eat your frozen leftovers, place the mason jar in the fridge or on the counter to thaw for a couple hours before gently heating
Below is an excerpt from The Weston A. Price Foundation on the nutritional benefits of beef:
“Beef is an excellent source of minerals like magnesium and zinc—you need zinc for clear thinking and a healthy sex life…Vitamin B6 is abundant in meat, especially rare meat. Red meat is one of the best sources of vitamin B12, which is vital to a healthy nervous system and healthy blood.
If you use the animal bones and hooves to make stock, and use the stock as our ancestors did in soups, stews and sauces, you will get plenty of calcium and the components of cartilage to give you healthy bones and cartilage. If you eat organ meats, as our ancestors did, you will get vital fat-soluble nutrients like vitamin A and D, both of which are essential for protein utilization and mineral absorption.”