I’ve been visiting northern Minnesota this weekend and it has been a cold few days. I wanted to make a hearty, comforting meal and thought a stew would be perfect. I opted for fresh ingredients, settling on a variety of dried mushrooms, portobello caps, carrots, potatoes, onions and herbs. My parents, who grew up with Dinty Moore’s Beef Stew in a can were delighted by this dish. I encourage you to try this out tonight for meatless Monday! Enjoy!
(source: mesh of Isa’s seitan porcini stew and Rachael Ray’s sliced steak and mushroom barley soup)
- oil
- onion
- 4 large portobello caps
- dried mushrooms
- 1 c boiling water
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 carrots – cut into slices
- 5 potatoes – cut into 1″ cubes
- 1 c red wine
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- pepper
- 3 c veg broth
- 1/4 c flour
- 1/2 c water
- 2 tbls tomato paste
- Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, when this comes to a boil, add to dried mushrooms and cover for about 30 min
- Saute onion in oil, when soft add sliced portobellos (about 4 large caps)
- Once the mushrooms are soft, add carrots, herbs and spices, and wine, boil for several minutes until liquid reduces
- Next add the potatoes and broth to the stew mixture
- By this time the dried mushrooms should be rehydrated, put these into a food processor and add the cloves of garlic. Process until smooth (you may need to add a little water/veg broth)
- Add the processed mushroom mixture to the stew pot, bring to a simmer, cover and cook until potatoes are easy to pierce with a fork
- Whisk the flour with water, add to stew mixture along with tomato paste
- Let sit for a few minutes before serving
