End of Winter Stew

The lightness of this End of Winter Stew I improvised two nights ago felt like the end of winter and the beginning of spring. It had to do with the beets!

Kaye’s End of Winter Stew

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Of course, spring is a virtually a misnomer in Southern California. We had heat waves in the higher 80’s in January last year and February this year. But, since this should be the beginning of spring in March and April, and it was rather cool on Thursday, and I harvested beets and carrots a few days ago, I whipped up this stew. I hope you like it!

Kaye’s End of Winter Stew

~Ingredients~

2 tbl. olive oil

1 med. onion

1 med. green garlic, chopped

1/2 – 3/4 lb. Tri-tip grass-fed beef

(or dried water chestnut alternative)

1 lg. turnip

2 lg. beets

4 med. or 2 lg. carrots

1 1/2 c. sliced shitake mushrooms

1 16oz. jar dry farmed tomatoes

3 c. water

1-2 bay leaves

3 shakes each of Indian Curry Seasoning, Sweet Basil, Garam Marsala

salt and pepper to taste

~Directions~

Heat olive oil over medium heat and saute green garlic and onion chunks for one minute. Add meat cut into large cubes (or water chestnuts). Cook until all sides are lightly browned, about five minutes. Add beets, carrots, and turnip as you cut them into chunks. Stir. Cook for five minutes. Add tomatoes. These dry farmed tomatoes from Happy Girl Kitchen Co. are loaded with flavor! Stir in water, mushrooms, spices and seasonings. Simmer another ten to fifteen minutes. Remove bay leaves before serving.

First beet and carrot harvest, grown in front yard!

I had never put beets in stew and was curious what would happen. With the combination of the flavorful tomatoes, the broth was light, rich and slightly sweet, and deep red! Of course, this selection of spices is also sweet. A perfect stew to ring in the Spring! (Use less water for thicker stew.) Dried water chestnuts are a great meat substitute. Check out this previous post on adding them to soup! Follow package directions for rehydrating chestnuts before adding to the stew. You can use the soaking water instead of plain water to the stew. I hope you enjoy!

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Tags: beets, curbside gardening, do-it-yourself, farming on small scale, gardening, gardening web series, green your world, growing your own vegetables, Kaye Kittrell, Late Bloomer, recipes, stew, urban gardening, vegetables

Category: Grow Veggies, Harvest, Recipes, Urban Gardening