Comfort Food on a Cold Day
The weather in Colorado is a little …. unpredictable (to say the least). This year has proved to be a very mild winter and spring, but we have had our share of cold rainy days lately and cooler temperatures.
It’s days like this that I bring out the comfort foods, and mushroom stew seemed to be just the thing!
When my family went to Paris, France four years ago, we learned that our youngest son took a real liking to Boeuf Bourguignon. With that in mind, I tried to replicate that taste in a healthier vegan version of the famous dish.
It has all the great flavor you would expect from the traditional version, but none of the artery clogging saturated fat.
I made a few swaps in it too – I used an apricot beer instead of traditional red wine. The alcohol cooks off and you are left with a really great tasting stew.
Instead of orange carrots, I used heirloom carrots that were orange, white, and purple.
The real thing that made this stew special was the little baby onions. If you know how to remove the skins quickly it makes the people you are serving it to feel extra special.
To thicken it, I used a tablespoon of arrowroot powder, making this recipe gluten and corn free.
So …., are you ready for the recipe?
Comforting Vegan Mushroom Stew
Ingredients
- 2 pounds mushrooms quartered or halved (depending on size)
- 1 pound shiitake mushrooms
- 1 pound baby onions Cipollini
- 5 carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 ½ pounds potatoes cut into pieces
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 12 oz apricot pale ale
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 Tbsp 21 spice mix I got mine here
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp arrowroot powder mixed in 1 Tbsp broth
Instructions
- Boil water in medium pot. When boiling cook Cipollini onions for one minute then drain water. When Cipollini onions are cool peel off the skins. Leave onions whole.
- In a large pot (like Le Creuset) sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent and fragrant.
- Add in mushrooms and season with salt, pepper, and 21 spice mixture.
- Add half the beer to loosen bits at the bottom of the pot. Cook a few minutes to cook off the alcohol.
- Add vegetables (Cipollini onions, carrots, and potatoes). Sauté a few minutes then add the rest of the beer. Cook a few minutes longer, then add vegetable broth.
- Add tomato paste.
- Prepare and add arrowroot mixture to the stew.
- Cook on low for three to four hours. The longer the stew cooks, the better the flavors marry.
- Serve hot with warm, crusty bread (mine was gluten-free).
