Before I write out this recipe, I would like to say that I’d appreciate it if you would all bear with me a bit as I get more used to writing out recipes. Part of the purpose of this blog is to get Phred and myself used to writing out what we cook. We made up recipes that resulted in delicious food for years, but unfortunately we could almost never duplicate our previous efforts since we never took the time to actually write out what we did.
Another issue I’d like to address is that we’re, um, used to being less than accurate with our measuring. We do a lot of seasoning to taste and freehand adding of herbs/spices. We’ll continue working on being better at measuring as we continue with this blog and in the meantime, please feel free to ask questions in the comments section if needed. If I’m unclear about something, please let me know and I’ll be more than happy to clarify it for you!
On to the recipe!
_________________________________________
I’d like to start off by saying that this recipe turned out extremely well! My most difficult food critics cleaned their bowls and had this to say about the stew:
4 year old: It was tasty and delicious!
2 year old: It’s tasty.
My mom came over for lunch today and was very happy with the soup. She said that the broth was delicious and the stew itself was very filling. Maybe she could come by later and give her opinion in the comments – at any rate, I shall invite her to do so!
Servings: 9 so far (4 for dinner last night, 5 for lunch today) and there are at least 12 more left in the pot – should last at least until Monday lunch!
Prep time: A long time. There were children underfoot, but my mom came over to help with the baby. Maybe a little more than 1 hour total sans children – it was more like 2 hours with the children though. This would be a good recipe to start very early in the afternoon or late in the morning and do a bit of it here and there throughout the day. Good for an easy day spent at home. The prep wasn’t difficult, just time-consuming and I think the result was well worth the time put in!
Cooking time: At least 4 hours. The way that I did it, the lentils were slightly al dente, but not too much so. I should’ve added the lentils in about half an hour to an hour sooner and that would’ve worked much better! It’s also a good idea to soak the lentils overnight before using them, but adding them was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing so I didn’t get a chance to soak them beforehand.
Beef and Turnip Stew
My Ingredients:
15 cups cold (filtered) water
1 soup bone
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 sprigs of dried rosemary
2 whole bay leaves
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds stew meat
2.5 cups dry lentils
4 medium carrots, sliced
20 small potatoes, diced
4 medium potatoes, diced
20 small turnips, diced
turnip greens from 20 turnips, chopped finely
5 spring onions, sliced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1/8 cup fresh dill, chopped finely (twice as much if using dried)
1/8 cup fresh cilantro, chopped finely
black pepper – to taste
quite a lot of salt – to taste – more than you think you’ll need
shredded mozzarella for top after serving (opt.)
My Supplies:
12 quart stock pot
2 – 3 quart pyrex bowls
iron skillet
large plate
wooden spatula to saute the onions/garlic/greens
fork to turn the browning stew meat over
very long, sturdy wooden spoon to stir the contents of the stock pot
The first thing I did was to put about 6 cups of water into the stock pot. Then I refilled the Brita Pitcher and while it was refilling I unwrapped my still mostly-frozen soup bone and put it into the water with the apple cider vinegar, bay leaves, and sprigs of rosemary. I prefer using sprigs of rosemary instead of loose rosemary because I love the flavor, but dislike the texture and the sprigs are easy to remove when I’m done using them for seasoning. I used about 15 cups of water total, more or less, and let the soup bone sit in the vinegar water for about half an hour before turning the heat on high. While the soup bone and water were heating up, I put about half the olive oil into the iron skillet and turned the heat on medium. I then dredged the stew meat in the flour on the large plate and chopped up my onions and garlic.
By the time I was done dredging, the oil was hot so I sauteed about one of the onions in the oil and removed it to the stock pot before browning the stew meat on all sides. This took about 20-25 minutes total. Once the meat was in the pot, I took about one cup of the liquid from the stock pot (already a nice golden color!) and added it slowly to the drippings in the iron skillet. I used the liquid to scrape the drippings off the bottom of the pan and then poured the resultant browning sauce into the stock pot for flavoring. This is the point at which I should have added the lentils.
I then began prepping the rest of the veggies and the dill/cilantro. The carrots, potatoes, and turnips all fit into one of my 3-quart mixing bowls and the turnip greens fit nicely into the other. I added the carrots, potatoes, and turnips when the soup had about an hour and a half left to cook (it was around this time that I also added the lentils… oops…) and then I poured the rest of the olive oil into the iron skillet and sauteed the rest of the onions as well as the garlic. I added the turnip greens to the mix and cooked them down to about 1/3 their original volume, also adding quite a bit of pepper and salt to the greens. After I added the greens, more salt, dill, and cilantro to the pot; I was finished with the prep and just had to wait for everything to get nice and soft and tasty!
And… it did! This soup is absolutely wonderful! I based this recipe very loosely off a recipe my lovely friend Christina gave me. The original recipe did not include a soup bone, nor any herbs or garlic (or anywhere near enough salt!), and it was to serve only 6 people for one meal.
I’d like to finish things off here by saying a few words about homemade soups. I’ve heard many people complain that they just cannot get a homemade soup to have a nice flavor or that their soups are always bland. In my experience, this is almost always because of a lack of salt. You will almost always need quite a bit more salt than you think you will when you make a homemade soup. This is because when you’re using all whole food ingredients, you don’t have that added salt from the canned tomatoes, beans, corn, or bouillon cubes. Just remember that because you don’t have all that hidden salt, you should not be afraid of adding enough salt! It will look like a lot, but really, it’s probably still less than you’d have if you were using canned foods and/or packaged seasonings to make soup. Salt is also your friend (barring certain medical conditions) during the summer too because in the hot weather your body uses up more of it. Taste the soup every time after you add a bit of salt and don’t be afraid to add just a little bit more if it tastes on the bland side.
Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy this recipe! Whether you’re cutting it down to a quarter to feed a small family or using it to help you create your own culinary masterpieces, we’d love to hear how you used or changed the recipe and how it turned out for you!
~B.
How to Eat a Side of Beef 