Got off track for awhile…other tasks. Here is tonight’s dinner, a recipe found on Pinterest from Straight Up Food. I made a couple of tweaks and think it might be nice with a couple more next time, especially substituting a little red wine for part of the water.
NO-BEEF STEW
Ingredients
- 1 large Spanish onion
- 3 large ribs celery
- 3 large carrots
- 1/2 pound Portobello mushrooms
- 1-1/2 TB minced fresh garlic
- 5 cups water
- 2 pounds white potatoes, peel on
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 TB basil and oregano
- 1 TB paprika
- 2 tsp. rosemary
- 1-1/2 cups green peas
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley (I used chopped green onion)
- 2 tsp. salt
- ground black pepper, to taste
Procedure
Cut all veggies into 3/4″ pieces, keeping in separate piles. Mince the garlic. Chop the parsley or green onion and set aside. Pre-measure other seasonings and set aside in a cup. Defrost the peas if using frozen.
Preheat the Dutch oven. Add 1 TB water to the Dutch oven and the cut up onion, celery and carrots. Cook for 7 or 8 minutes, stirring periodically, allowing to brown slightly but not burn. Add water if needed (I didn’t find it necessary with the Dutch oven).
Add another TB water, garlic and mushrooms and stir periodically, cooking for 5 minutes.
Add water, tomato paste, potatoes, remaining seasonings, stir, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
Remove 2 cups of liquid and blend. I actually scooped a couple of potato pieces into this to thicken the sauce a bit more. Return the blended gravy to the pot. Add the peas, and simmer for a minute or two more. Remove from heat and garnish with parsley or green onion, and serve.
Note: In the lower right of the picture, I added a large piece of fresh turmeric (which you can see in the lower right of the picture) to see what it would do for the color and for some additional nutritional content. It didn’t seem to change the color or flavor much – I might try adding more next time – but I suspect it probably added some nice phyto-nutrients and antioxidants to the mix.