{"id":21907,"date":"2020-05-06T19:37:23","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T23:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/?p=21907"},"modified":"2020-05-06T19:37:27","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T23:37:27","slug":"spring-beef-stew-with-mushrooms-peas-and-baby-potatoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/spring-beef-stew-with-mushrooms-peas-and-baby-potatoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Beef Stew with Mushrooms, Peas, and Baby Potatoes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been craving beef stew, but not a heavy stick to your bones winter stew. I wanted something comforting but still light, fresh, and nourishing. As I imagined what would qualify as a spring beef stew a few flavors came to mind: fresh dill, mushrooms, leeks, bacon, and peas. While grocery shopping I was delighted to come across some baby potatoes in red, purple, and gold. The goal was a light and clear broth, as opposed to the thick sauce of a winter stew. I wasn’t even planning a blog post but the dish turned out so beautifully I had to quickly snap a couple of photos and share this slap-dash recipe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sauteed diced vegetables and bacon add layers of flavor to this recipe. Be careful with the salt– save most of your salting until the end to prevent overdoing it. I like to leave some potatoes whole while slicing the larger ones in half. The sliced potatoes release starches into the broth and thicken it ever so slightly. The flavors of stew improve after a day or so in the fridge, so I like to cook the stew the day before I plan to serve it. After supper tonight my husband announced, “you have officially mastered stew!” I have to agree that this is my new favorite stew recipe– perfect for springtime!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Spring Beef Stew with Mushrooms, Peas, and Baby Potatoes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Serves 4 generously<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • 1 slice of bacon, cut into \u00bd inch chunks<\/li>
  • Olive oil<\/li>
  • 2 pounds beef stew meat chunks (boneless chuck)<\/li>
  • 1 leek, diced<\/li>
  • 1 small onion, diced<\/li>
  • 1 celery stalk, diced<\/li>
  • 1 large carrot, sliced into \u00bc inch coins<\/li>
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced<\/li>
  • 1 container unsalted beef stock (32 ounces)<\/li>
  • 1 dried bay leaf<\/li>
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves<\/li>
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage leaves<\/li>
  • 1 package baby Bella mushrooms (8 ounces) sliced<\/li>
  • \u00bd pound baby potatoes (red, purple, golden) some halved, some whole<\/li>
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill plus 1 teaspoon for garnish<\/li>
  • \u00be cup frozen peas<\/li>
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Heat a large stew pot (Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid) over medium on the stovetop. Add a little olive oil and saut\u00e9 the bacon until browned, just a minute or two. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Add more oil to cover the base of the pan and brown the beef in batches, caramelizing each side of the meat. Set the browned beef aside on paper towels to soak up any excess oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Add the leek and onion to the pan and saut\u00e9 over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, then add the celery and carrot for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toss in the garlic and cook for a minute, stirring to prevent browning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pour some of the beef stock into the pan and turn up the heat to simmer, deglazing and scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula or wooden spoon. Add the browned beef back into the pan, along with the rest of the beef stock, bay leaf, thyme, and sage. Turn up the heat and bring the stew to a boil, then cover with lid and take it to a simmer over low heat for about an hour and a half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After the stew has been cooking for about 1 \u00bd hours add the mushrooms and potatoes, along with 2 teaspoons fresh dill. Simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes, then check to make sure the meat is very tender and the potatoes are cooked through. If so, add the frozen peas and simmer for 5 more minutes. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed. Serve with fresh dill and the bacon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I’ve been craving beef stew, but not a heavy stick to your bones winter stew. I wanted something comforting but still light, fresh, and nourishing. As I imagined what would qualify as a spring beef stew a few flavors came to mind: fresh dill, mushrooms, leeks, bacon, and peas. While grocery shopping I was delighted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[233,91,238],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/fullsizeoutput_9c2.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21907"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21907"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21921,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21907\/revisions\/21921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}