“Fall is Here” Beef Stew

Place your trusty Dutch oven or thick bottom pot on the stove and heat it over medium heat with about 1 teaspoon of oil.

Put your seasoned flour in a shallow bowl. Dredge your cubes of roast in the seasoned flour and place a portion of the beef cubes in the bottom of your Dutch oven. Cook to brown on all sides. When the first batch is browned, remove it from the pot to a plate and add the next batch of beef. The key is to leave enough room around the cubes of roast so they can brown and not steam and so the oil temperature doesn’t lower due to crowding. You may need to add a little more oil into your pan between batches. Once all of the beef is browned and removed from the Dutch oven, add in your onions, carrots, celery and potatoes. Saute for 5 minutes. Then top the veggies with the chard.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Next, add the beef broth/stock and enough water to equal 3 cups total. Stir and scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven to loosen the flavorful bits on the bottom of the pan. Place your thyme sprigs on top of the mixture in your Dutch oven.

Add the beef on top of the thyme, put the lid on the pot and place in a 350 F oven for 1 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. If you are using conventional beef, you may need to cook your stew for some additional time. I have found that organic beef cooks faster.

When done, remove pot from the oven and add the 3/4 cup of fresh herbs (rosemary and parsley). Your stew will look a little green at first, but after they are in the hot stew for 5 minutes or so it will be back to the normal color. Enjoy!