There's nothing nicer on a cold winter's day than a bowl of warming stew, top it with tasty dumplings and you have a real treat!
Last week I recommended serving colourful vegetables to liven up stews and casseroles and this is another way of making stew more visually exciting. The different shapes, textures and colours of the dumplings, artichokes and olives all create interest on the surface breaking up the monotony of the gravy covered chunks of meat, which as delicious as they are, aren't the most interesting thing to look at.
Traditionally dumplings are made with flour and beef suet, but these healthier dumplings are instead made with grated pumpkin, ground almonds and rice flour and flavoured with dried thyme. Unfortunately you can't cook them in the stew as you would do normally as they dissolve into the liquid and start to disintegrate. So to get around that slight problem you need to bake them in the oven before adding them to the stew just before serving. This has the added bonus that you can cook several batches at once and freeze any surplus to use at a later date.
I've used carrots to thicken the stew which eliminates the need for any flour and is also a good way of incorporating more vegetables. Keep the chunks of carrot quite large because you need to be able to fish them out when the stew is cooked. After blending with some of the liquid from the stew, the soupy carrot puree is then stirred back into the meat which thickens the sauce.
Beef Stew with Globe Artichokes, Olives & Pumpkin Dumplings
Serves 4 (with leftovers)
Ingredients
Beef Stew
1kg Braising Steak or Shin of Beef cut into chunks
1-2 Tbsp Rapeseed Oil
2 Medium Red Onions, finely sliced
2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
500ml Beef Stock
500ml Passata
3 Bay Leaves
½ Tsp Dried Thyme or a Few Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
125g Carrots, cut into large chunks
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
A Large Handful of Olives
8 Cooked Globe Artichoke Hearts, quartered (either fresh, chargrilled & marinated or tinned)
Pumpkin Dumplings
200g Raw Pumpkin, finely grated
50g Ground Almonds
50g Rice Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1½ Tsp Dried Thyme
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Pre heat the oven to 150℃/Fan 130℃.
Heat the rapeseed oil in a casserole pan and brown the meat in batches. Set the beef aside and add the onions to the pan and gently fry until soft. Return the beef to the pan. Pour in the beef stock along with the passata then add the carrots, garlic and herbs. Bring up to the boil then cover and place in the oven for about 3 hours or until the beef is tender.
Whilst the stew is cooking, mix together all the ingredients for the dumplings until a dough like mixture has formed. Divide into 8 pieces and using the palms of your hands, roll into balls. Place on a baking tray, lined with non stick parchment.
When the stew is cooked and you are ready to bake the dumplings turn the oven up to 180℃/Fan 160℃. Bake for 20 minutes then turn the heat up again to 200℃/Fan 180℃ and bake for another 5 minutes or until golden brown.
With the dumplings in the oven you can now thicken the stew. Take out the carrots and place in a jug, ladle some of the liquid from the stew onto the carrots, then using a hand blender, blend until smooth. Stir the puree into the stew to thicken the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Finally, scatter the artichokes and olives over the top of the stew, replace the lid and keep warm whilst the dumplings are cooking.
When the dumplings are golden brown place them around the top of the stew and serve.
Food Preparation & Food Presentation Guides
Colour ~ Texture ~ Shape/Form ~ Less is More ~ Garnishing
Serving Styles ~ Plating Techniques ~ Plating Styles
Importance of the Visual Appeal of Food
Why Attractive Presentation Makes Food More Enjoyable
