Beef Stew With Dumplings Recipe
Beef stew is reassuringly traditional. No need to modernise it, put a cheffy twist on it or otherwise tamper with its simplicity. Just give it good-quality ingredients and a bit of time and you’ll be rewarded with a hearty and satisfying dish. Made all the better by some rib-sticking dumplings.
Beef Stew With Dumplings Recipe
Beef stew is reassuringly traditional. No need to modernise it, put a cheffy twist on it or otherwise tamper with its simplicity. Just give it good-quality ingredients and a bit of time and you’ll be rewarded with a hearty and satisfying dish. Made all the better by some rib-sticking dumplings.
- Serves: 4
- Prepare: 3 Hours
- Cook: 3 Hours
- Difficulty: easy
WHO ARE THE ORGANIC BUTCHERY?
Starting life as an organic farm in the heart of the West Country, The Organic Butchery is proudly founded on a long history of organic principles. We source the best quality organic grass-fed and wild meats, sustainable fish and organic free-range poultry from trusted local suppliers and like-minded brands to guarantee the highest standards of animal welfare and environmental stewardship. Our mission is to approach butchery with a whole-carcass perspective, to make the most of every animal that crosses our blocks, which means we offer you cuts that you will never see on the supermarket shelves.
WHAT IS ORGANIC BEEF?
Living active, free-range lives, our organic grass-fed beef is a nutrient-dense food. We farm our cattle in harmony with nature, grazing livestock in turn helps to regenerate the health of our soil. At The Organic Butchery, we select only the highest-quality cuts to deliver pure, distinctive flavour every time.
Ingredients
- 800g organic diced stewing steak
- 600ml organic beef bone broth
- 200g shallots, peeled and halved
- 4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
- 2-3 carrots (optional)
- 1 fat clove of garlic
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- splash of vegetable oil
- salt and pepper
FOR THE DUMPLINGS
- 100g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 50 g beef suet
- 1 spring onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp hot horseradish sauce
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160° /Gas 3. In a bowl toss the organic diced beef in the flour and a good dash of seasoning, making sure the chunks are totally covered. In a heavy-based casserole dish or oven proof saucepan, heat a good splash of oil over a medium heat, add the organic diced beef meat and cook for 5 minutes or until browned all over. You don’t want to crowd the pan, so do this in stages if necessary. Once browned, remove the organic diced beef from the pan and set aside
- While the organic diced organic beef cooks, finely chop the garlic, roughly chop the celery, peel and cut the carrots, then peel the shallots and halve them or leave whole. Add more oil to the casserole dish/pan if needed, add the shallots and cook them until they start to soften and brown. Throw in the garlic, carrots and celery and cook briefly, making sure it does not catch
- Return the organic diced beef to the pan, add the herbs, organic beef bone broth and Worcestershire sauce and a sprinkling more salt and pepper if you fancy and stir through. Bring to a gentle simmer
- Continue to cook the beef stew over a very gentle heat on the hob or in a low oven for at least 2-3 hours, until the organic diced beef is tender and pulls apart easily with forks. Keep an eye on the liquid, topping it up with water if the beef stew starts to get a bit dry
- For the dumplings, sift the flour into a bowl, stir through the baking powder, spring onion and hot horseradish sauce. Gradually add 3tbsp of cold water, and bring the flour together into a sticky dough, adding more water until the dough is firm but pliable
- Divide the mixture into 8 equal pieces and roll in a little more flour into balls. Chill the dumplings until needed
- When the beef stew has about 30 minutes to go, arrange the dumplings on top of the stew, pushing them into the gravy slightly, cover with the lid. Cook the beef stew and dumplings for 20 minutes, then remove the lid for the last 10 minutes, until the dumplings are brown and puffed up
- Serve with vibrant seasonal greens and creamy mashed potato
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WHO ARE THE ORGANIC BUTCHERY?
Starting life as an organic farm in the heart of the West Country, The Organic Butchery is proudly founded on a long history of organic principles. We source the best quality organic grass-fed and wild meats, sustainable fish and organic free-range poultry from trusted local suppliers and like-minded brands to guarantee the highest standards of animal welfare and environmental stewardship. Our mission is to approach butchery with a whole-carcass perspective, to make the most of every animal that crosses our blocks, which means we offer you cuts that you will never see on the supermarket shelves.
WHAT IS ORGANIC BEEF?
Living active, free-range lives, our organic grass-fed beef is a nutrient-dense food. We farm our cattle in harmony with nature, grazing livestock in turn helps to regenerate the health of our soil. At The Organic Butchery, we select only the highest-quality cuts to deliver pure, distinctive flavour every time.
Frequently asked questions
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Organic grass-fed beef is reared using the rigorous standards set out by the Soil Association. Our cows live active, free-range lives and we farm them in harmony with nature - grazing livestock, in turn, helps to regenerate the health of our soil. At Coombe Farm Organic, we select only the highest-quality cuts to deliver pure, distinctive flavour every time. Grass-fed beef is a nutrient dense food. It’s one of our best sources of high-quality protein and essential nutrients like iron, zinc and Vitamin B12 which are either absent or hard for us to absorb from plants. It’s fats also give us important fat-soluble vitamins including A & E.
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Organic grass fed beef is a whole, real food. It usually contains less total fat than conventional beef because these cows are outside more and therefore more active, over the course of a year (this also means fewer calories). Farming cattle in harmony with nature on natural pastures of grasses and herbs has been shown to increase and/ or improve some of these nutrients further. Grass fed beef also contains up to five times more omega-3 than conventional beef. This makes it a valuable source of food to improve our Omega 3 intake which currently we get from fish in our diet, but not enough. The right balance of Omega 6:3 protects our heart health, reduces inflammation within our body, benefits our immune system and probably protects our mental function, too.
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Organic beef has to be certified by an approved organic body to a number of set organic standards. These include the space that an organic beef animal has to graze, the way that its food is grown, without the use of pesticides and or unapproved fertilisers. The standards for organic beef also cover use of medicines (no routine drugs, growth promoters or additives added) and other points that improve the welfare and conditions throughout the life of the animal and on through slaughter and butchery. Coombe Farm Organic is certified organic by the Soil Association.