Picture courtesy f Caitlin Dillon – “Crescent rolls not Paleo, but highly advisable”.
Adapted from the Nom Nom Paleo recipe book, CDil’s most recent concoction was hearty, delicious, and warmed the soul. This is a Whole30-friendly stew.
This recipe uses a pressure cooker, can be ready in about an hour, and only takes about 15 minutes to prep. Serves 6, unless you’re really hungry…
Ingredients:
-3lbs beef chuck roast, boneless short ribs, or beef brisket cut into 1.5-2in cubes
-Kosher salt
-1tbs ghee, avocado oil, or fat of choice
-2 medium onions, thinly sliced
-2tbs tomato paste
-6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
-2tsp coconut aminos (or gluten free tamari)
-1tsp Red Boat FIsh Sauce
-2 fresh thyme sprigs (or 1tsp dried thyme)
-1 dried bay leaf
-freshly ground black pepper
-1/4cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped
-3 large carrots, cut into 1in pieces
-1lb Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, cut into 1in cubes
-*CDil Delish Option: .5pint of bone broth (add half when you cook the meat, add the other half when you cook the veggies).
Instructions:
-In large bowl, toss the cubed beef with 1.5tsp kosher salt
-Press “Saute” button on your Instant Pot (pressure cooker) and when metal insert is hot, add your preferred cooking fat. Once fat is melted, add ionion and .5tsp kosher salt.
-Saute until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes.
-Stir in tomato paste and garlic, cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
-Toss in salted beef, coconut aminos, fish sauce, thyme, and bay leaf.
-Give everything a good stir to combine all the ingredients (no, you don’t need to add any extra liquid to the pressure cooker because the onions and beef will release plenty of liquid. However, if you’re using an older stovetop pressure cooker, you may need to add 1/2cup of broth or water).
-Press the “Keep warm/cancel” button on the pressure cooker and cover and lock the lid. Next, press the “Meat/Stew” button to switch to the pressure cooking mode. If your beef cubes are smaller than what the recipe calls for, you can press the “minus” button to decrease the cooking time fom the present 35 minutes (high pressure). Once the pot is programmed, walk away. (If using a stovetop pressure cooker, you won’t have all those buttons to press. Just cook on high heat until high pressure is reached. Then, reduce the heat to low to maintain high pressure for about 30 minutes.)
-When the stew is finished cooking, the Instant Pot will switch automatically to a “Keep Warm” mode. If you’re using a stovetop pressure cooker instead, remove the pot from the heat. In either case, let the pressure release naturally (abotu 15 minutes). If the pressure hasn’t released completely after 15 minutes and you’re impatient, you can manually release the pressure by turning the valve at the top to venting.
-Fish out the thyme and bay leaf.
-Check that the meat is fork tender. If not, cook for another 10 minutes under high pressure
-Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
-Skim the fat off top and adorn with chopped Italian parsley.
-Enjoy or put away for later!
