I had some beetroots, prunes and 70% chocolate in the cupboard, as well as quite a lot of shin, brisket, oxtail and trottery goodness in the fridge. So I decided I might as well see what happened when I put them all together in my Instant Pot for a decadent beef stew. I figured a touch of Middle Eastern spices rarely goes amiss. And cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves complement chocolate well. While prunes, orange and chocolate also go together well, and beef, orange and chocolate go well. The beetroot was a little bit of a wild card, but I figured it might just work.
“This should be interesting”, I thought. Hopefully not too interesting to eat, however. I also thought “wish me luck”.
I do enjoy a good beef stew, particularly in the winter. And I was delighted with the way it turned out in the end. Very flavourful, and unctuous with all the gelatinous stock. Don’t you love how a nice beef stew can really warm the cockles of your heart on a cold winter’s day? Well that’s exactly what this recipe does.
You could swap out the tough cuts of meat (oxtail, brisket and shin), and instead use cubes of stewing steak. You won’t need to cook it for as long if you’re using stewing steak. 40 minutes on high pressure in the Instant Pot should do the trick. Or if you’re using a slow cooker you could try 7-8 hours on low.
You could definitely add some lions mane mushrooms to this recipe as well, if you are trying to find ways to include this amazing nootropic fungus. Just rehydrate the dried lions mane mushrooms, chop them up, and add with the other vegetables.
Just like any other stew, this will be better on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th day.
Serving suggestions for this rich beef stew include a green leafy salad tossed in a light vinaigrette. You could serve alongside boiled or steamed rice, boiled potatoes, or even noodles (you could use konjac, courgetti noodles, rice, buckwheat, gluten free, or if you tolerate gluten just plain noodles). A large dollop of live natural plain yogurt or Greek yogurt cuts through the sweetness from the beetroot and prunes.
I don’t even remember what a good quality bread tastes like any more. But if you’re fortunate enough to be able to still get away with eating gluten, then this would be the sort of beef stew that you could mop up with great big chunks of a white bloomer.
To make this AIP compliant swap ground mace for the nutmeg, and omit the pepper and chocolate. You could try replacing the chocolate with some carob powder, but I haven’t tried this. I would guess that you would have to make a paste with the carob powder first. Try mixing 2-3 tablespoons of carob powder in water first, then adding it along with the spices.
This beef stew is very high in oxalates, between the beetroot and the chocolate or carob powder, so opt for low oxalate greens, like boy choy, to complement it.