Hearty Beef Stew

On Tuesday last week, Melissa decided to use that celery root she bought when recently foraging for ingredients she had never cooked with, and out came a savory beef stew. Lightly blanched green peas with just olive oil, salt and pepper made the perfect accompaniment.

Great use of the steak tips we have in the freezer from our last trip to BJ's wholesale club. The celery root was a little tough to chew but added wonderful flavor. Pay attention to Melissa's notes on preparation of the celery root and the stemmy bits can be avoided. This stew was great with a Sam Adams Light, my favorite light beer and the only one I know of that retains a rich, malty flavor despite being a "light" beer.

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Recipe and notes

Beef Stew

200g of sirloin steak tips
1 head of garlic
2 carrots
½ celery root
1 can of diced tomatoes
5 Bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried Rosemary
1 tsp of whole pepper corns
½ can of small white beans
2 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
Water

Use a pot with tight fitting lid. Add drizzle of olive oil and bring up to temperature to sear beef. Add cubes of beef and pan fry until nice colour develops. Add whole peeled garlic cloves, diced carrots and sliced celery root.

To prepare celery root it is important to slice the skin off generously as there are some tough fibrous regions just below the knobby surface that don’t soften with cooking. Kind of the texture of apple core…. not pleasant. Also pan fry the garlic, carrots and celery root to give them a head start on the caramelization process. Then add in the tin of tomatoes. Keep pot on high heat and reduce as much liquid as possible from the tomatoes. The more moisture the tomatoes lose the deeper red they become and the more sugars they release. Keep evaporating liquid until the bottom of the pot sometimes sticks some tomato paste and turns it dark brown – (not black though ;-) ) Add enough water to cover the meat and add whole pepper corns, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary.

Simmer covered on low heat for around 1-2 hours topping up with water if the liquid gets too low. Once the meat is tender add the white beans and remove lid to reduce the liquid until a rich gravy is formed. Add some grated parmesan cheese for extra bite and creaminess before serving if desired. Serve with quickly blanched baby peas tossed in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.