Home Cooking: Beef Stew and Dumplings

Happy November! The cold weather is definitely here. I turned on the electric heater in our livingroom on for half an hour today to take the chill out of the air. And as I sit here typing, I'm wearing a warm hat.

This morning I read a November poem with the children, from Around the Year--

Grey is November
cold as cold.
Stormy November,
wind and rain.
No snow.
No ice.
No glittering sun.
Grey is November,
except
by the bright fire
with a story,
a cushion for the cat,
the dark shut outside
and
the light in the flames
where mysteries lie
and
we dream.

Indeed, November is a good time to start spending more time indoors, taking comfort from the warmth there. We don't have a fireplace in our home like the children in the book, but can still warm ourselves on chilly days with good, hot, homecooked meals.

A few nights ago I made beef stew and dumplings, and I decided to take some pictures so that I could do another cooking tutorial post, for those poor souls out there who have never enjoyed a pot of hot, bubbling stew on a cold November evening.

Stew is one of my favourite meals to make because not only is it warm and good, it's nutritious with all the vegetables in it. Also, it's really quite easy, although it does take a while to chop everything up beforehand.

Beef Stew and Dumplings.

This recipe makes enough for 6 to 8 servings. It's easy to cut in half if you need to.

First, assemble your ingredients for the stew:
2 lbs stewing beef
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter or vegetable oil
1 large (900mL) carton of beef broth, or about 1 L homemade broth
1 large onion (I used 3 small ones)
2 large carrots
2 parsnips
1 smallish turnip
3 smallish potatoes, or 2 medium ones
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1/4 cup barley
1/4 tsp dried thyme
Bay leaves
salt and pepper


First, cut up half the stewing beef into bite size pieces (I find the chunks it comes in from the store are way too big for children to manage). Dredge these small chunks in 1 tbsp of the flour. An easy way to do this is to shake them up with the flour in a ziploc bag.

Put the floured beef into a dutch oven or other heavy pot, along with 1 tbsp of butter, oil, or bacon grease. While the first half of the beef is browning up, chop up the second half of the meat and dredge it in the other tbsp of flour.

When the first batch of beef is browned, remove it to a bowl and brown the second batch. Meanwhile, chop up the onions, turnip, parsnips and carrots. Don't chop up the potatoes, yet.

Once the second batch of beef is nicely browned (and don't worry if the bottom of the pot gets pretty dark looking, as long as it doesn't smell burned it's okay) add the other beef back and pour in the beef broth. Add all the chopped vegetables (minus the potatoes and peas), a few bay leaves, the thyme and barley.

You should have a mixture that looks something like this:

Now put the lid on, turn the burner down to low and let it simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. (Barley takes about 45 minutes to cook, so I say an hour just to be sure it's done.)

Okay, at this point you can peel and chop the potatoes and add them in. Also, season with salt and pepper the way you like it.

Put the lid back on for a few minutes while you mix up the dumplings.

Mix together 2 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt. Then mix separately 1 cup of milk and 4 tbsp oil or melted butter, and add to the flour mixture. Stir it up quickly. Don't stir it too long or the dumplings will be tough. You may have to add some extra liquid--I always do.

I didn't forget the peas! Now is the time to add them in (I personally think over cooked peas are not very appealing, so I add them in at the last minute!)

Take the dumpling batter and drop it onto the bubbling stew, one spoonful at a time. It's that easy! It should look something like this:

Put the lid back on, make sure the burner is on low, and go do something else for 15 minutes. No peeking! The dumplings need the steam to cook properly.

After 15 minutes is up, it's done.

Enjoy your warm, homecooked meal. If you like, pretend you are pioneers on the frontier and you cooked your stew in a cast iron pot hanging over the fireplace. (Other people pretend things like that too, right?)

Stew is also excellent reheated the next day for a hot lunch.

Comments

[Mary]

Oh yum, I'm salivating!!! We had a garden fresh veggie soup for lunch, not too different, except no meat and dumplings. Looks delish!

[Debbie]

Mmmm...stew. We are having something similar for dinner tonight - but with some organic chicken leftover from a roaster we made on the the weekend. I love warm comfort food. Nothing tastes better.

Oh...I was all bundled up here today too, despite warmish temps outside, the house felt cool. Time for the long johns and slippers and wool sweaters to make their way out. And um...I always pretend we are pioneers. :)

[Laura Jeanne]

Good, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't consider herself too old for make-believe. :)

[Brenda]

HI Laura, it sounds like a lovely meal. Have you discovered the down to earth blog? Written by Rhonda an Australian lady I'm sure you would love it, it's full of great frugal living, self sufficency ideas. xxBrenda

[Carrie]

Oh my! I will definately be making this very soon. Thank you!

[Marijke - Petite Daphne]

I've never heard of dumplings! It looks great..
We also had some stew cooking here, and tomato soup mate from leftover liquid. I love this time of year! Stews are fantastic!
http://petitedaphne.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/some-cooking-and-baking/

[Shannon]

The little wooden bowls of peas was the highlight of this post for me. Such a delightful, simply joy don't you think? :D

[Plain and Joyful Living]

Thank you Laura! I saved this to my laptop.
Warm wishes,
Tonya