Comfort Food Cravings: Hearty Root Stew

My darling daughter enjoying the splendors of fall clean up last year

Well, it is officially Autumn here in New York.

The weather is cooling off and that ole familiar craving for heartier food is setting in.  My daughter who is newly vegan asked if I could make a vegan version of a beef stew for us for dinner one night.  I was happy to oblige and since I hadn't ever attempted, I welcomed the challenge. 

What follows is my new recipe for:

Hearty Root Stew

(note: this is not gluten-free)

 Start with a stock pot full of your favorite root veggies.  

 I used 2 cups each of parsnips, turnips, yukon potatoes (fresh from a friend's garden, yay!), and carrots then added to the mix, half of a large vidalia onion and 1 clove of fresh garlic.

You will also be adding 2 cups of mushrooms to this stew but that comes later on.  

  Pour 5 cups of water into your pot; should be just enough to cover your veggies.

 For the flavoring of my stew, I turned to my favorite mock beef seitan recipe  (a la La Dolce Vegan aka Sarah Kramer) and using those same ingredients made my broth for this stew.

BROTH INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of tamari

5 tbsp vegan worcestshire

5 tbsp of nutritional yeast

4 tsp. each of garlic and onion powder

1 1/4 tsp of dried sage

1 tsp of cayenne (optional or you can add less)

Whisk your broth ingredients together in a bowl or cup . . .

and add to your veggie pot.

Bring the broth to a boil and turn down to simmer. Place a lid on your pot and cook for 20 minutes until veggies are almost tender. 

Add in your mushrooms and cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove one cup of the broth from the pan and place in a bowl or cup.  Whisk in 1 tbsp. of corn starch  until dissolved and pour back into the pot, stirring until the broth turns into more of a gravy. Continue to do this until you reach the desired thickness and consistency.  

If thicker stews are not to your liking, you can simply stop after your veggies are tender and enjoy as a soup.

Autumn Blessing from the Peas . . .

Love and Light,

Amber