I really am trying to make an effort to cook through the meat I have in my freezer. I had quite a bit of sirloin steak to cook and my internet searching brought me to this Sunday Sirloin Stew from Stir It Up Me. I ignored all the talk of brownies at the top of the stew recipe post gathered my ingredients. I had enough beef to make a double recipe.
The weekend I made this I had found some awesome green beans at the farmers' market and decided to add them to the stew. I know from adding them to Paleo Comfort Foods Beef Stew that I like the texture of green beans in stew. Look at how pretty these beans were.
The recipe calls for this to be cooked on the stove top, but I decided to use my slow cooker. I'm a rebel that way lately. I added the chopped onions and carrots to my slow cooker.
Next, after cubing the steaks, I added the recipe spices and arrowroot to a plastic freezer bag mixed them up and added the meat to the bag. I sealed the bag and shook the bag until the meat was well coated by the flavorings. I'm not as concerned about arrowroot as I used to be since Melissa Joulwan used it in her Well Fed 2 Meatballs section and confirmed that it was Whole 30 approved. Evidently, it helps tenderize the meat and can thicken sauces. However, I'm not entirely sold it really is needed.
I then browned the sirloin in two batches and added the meat to the slow cooker as it was ready.
And then I sautéed the mushrooms. I used the same pan instead of a separate pan as I just didn't want to wash two pans. My third ingredient change to this recipe was adding a bit of garlic to the pan with the mushrooms. When they had softened, I added them to the slow cooker.
Finally, I added the liquid ingredients. I used 2 cups of homemade chicken broth and a little over a cup of Pinot Noir (all that I had left in a bottle). I knew the meat and veggies would release a lot of liquid while cooking so I wasn't concerned about the less than perfect doubling here.
I put the lid on and set the slow cooker for 5 hours on high. Yes, on high - I was short on time. At the four hour mark, I added the pretty green beans.
Here's the finished stew.
Accessibility & Cost of Ingredients: You should be able to find everything you need for this recipe at your "big box" grocery store or farmers market.
Preparation & Cooking Time: It took me 45 minute to get this in the slow cooker. If you make a single batch, you could probably get this in under 30 minutes. I cooked the stew on high in my slow cooker for 5 hours.
Clean Up: Everything except my sauté pan went into the dishwasher
The Paleo Review: Thumbs Up! The wine is the predominant flavor in this dish and adds a nice change in flavor to the regular beef stew I typically make. I'm still not certain that using arrowroot really adds anything to the recipe. I couldn't discern any different suing the arrowroot powder in the consistency or tenderness of the stew compared to other stews I've made with out it. So, if you don't have any around, don't let that stop you from trying this dish. I'm glad I added the green beans and the garlic. I'll certainly be adding it into my soup rotation.
Does anyone else have these moments of coming across something at the farmers' market that's not on your list and not being able to leave without it?
