Tasting Spoons

There are a whole lot of variations on beef stew out there. Even Asian. And my friend Cherrie’s version made with the addition of currant jelly and cream. I used to make a kind of bland one in the crock pot some years ago too. But my all time favorite is this one, which I hadn’t made in years and years. My DH doesn’t really love stew. Even he doesn’t know why. I had made this for him before, but I hoped that perhaps with a few modifications, he’d like it better. Oh, indeed he did. He wanted seconds, even. I didn’t add potatoes this time – just carrots, mushrooms and the flavoring vegetables.

This recipe has the strange name because it was a version prepared by a dear family friend named Ruth Cormack. After her husband died in the last 1970’s, she developed Alzheimer’s and one day when I phoned her she didn’t know who I was. She was still living alone at that time. It was heartbreaking to me. I didn’t have the phone numbers of any family, plus I lived hundreds of miles away from her, so I don’t know what happened to her. She had rather unpleasant step-daughters who probably neglected her. Sad story. But beef stew will forever be linked with my friend, Ruth. She lived in San Anselmo (a beautiful suburb of Marin County, across the bridge from San Francisco). I hope that where she’s observing me from a heavenly cloud, she’s smiling because I’m sharing her recipe.

What makes this version stand out from the other more mundane recipes are these ingredients: lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, a bit of sugar and some allspice. Not things you’d normally associate with beef stew. And I’m really happy with the changes I made to the good-old tried and true recipe. I added a heap of mushrooms, used a mirepoix to help flavor the broth, also added some chicken broth (you could use beef or chicken), and I thickened it a bit more with some added flour that I tossed around on the raw mushrooms.  I made it with my new pressure cooker (see p.c. notes at the end of the recipe). It’s not exactly stew season around here, but we actually had a cool day when I made this. Try it and see what you think.

(Cormack) Beef Stew with Dumplings

Recipe: Adapted from a recipe from an old family friend, Ruth Cormack

Servings: 4 (I really think this will serve 6 people)

2 pounds beef stew meat — in one inch cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons flour — for dredging

1 cup mirepoix — (diced onion, celery and carrots)

2 1/2 cups beef broth — or chicken broth

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic — minced

1 whole bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar — [or Splenda added at the end]

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

3 whole carrots — halved

4 small onions — sliced

2 whole potatoes — quartered (optional)

1/4 cup Italian parsley — chopped

2 cups mushrooms — trimmed, halved

DUMPLINGS:

1 cup Bisquick® baking mix

6 tablespoons milk

1.  Dredge meat in flour, seasoned with salt and pepper.  Save the leftover flour.  In a heavy Dutch oven, brown meat on several sides in a bit of olive oil.  The more the meat caramelizes, the better tasting it will be.  Do not crowd pan; you may have to do this is more than one batch, adding a bit more olive oil to the pan.  Remove meat and set aside.

2.  To the pan add the chopped mirepoix vegetables and all the sliced onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes.  Add the garlic for the last minute.  Place meat back in the pan.

3.  Add lemon juice, broth, Worcestershire, bay leaf, salt, and sugar.  Cover and simmer for about 2 hours until meat is very tender.

4.  Add the carrots and potatoes (if using) and continue cooking (lid on) for about 10 minutes.  Add chopped parsley and mushrooms, which you can toss with the leftover flour mixture from the dredging (step 1) and stir in.  Remove bay leaf if you can find it.

5.  Mix Bisquick and milk together in a small bowl.  Using a soup sized spoon, drop about 8 dollops on top of vegetables.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, then remove lid and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.  Serve immediately.

PRESSURE COOKER VERSION: At end of step 3, cook meat, onions, and seasonings for 20 minutes under pressure.  Cool and open pressure cooker.  Add carrots and bring back up to pressure again for about 5 minutes.  Cool again, then add in mushrooms and parsley and push them below the broth surface.  Stir to distribute flour.  Add dumplings on top and proceed with the 10 minutes lid on (not pressure cooked), 10 minutes lid off.

Per Serving (actually less because this will serve more than 4 people): 778 Calories; 32g Fat (37.0% calories from fat); 62g Protein; 59g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 128mg Cholesterol; 1931mg Sodium.

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