It's Delish! Braised Winter Stew

When the weather is cold and wet, all I want to do is stay indoors. My appetite wanes and I have cravings for deep savory flavors. That is why I decided to make a braised winter stew using leftover vegetables I had in my pantry and refrigerator.

First, I chopped up half a white onion, some baby carrots, and two slightly wilted celery stocks. I also preheated the oven to 325 degrees.

I put these in a dutch oven with a few tsp of oil and a pinch of salt.

I let these cook on medium heat while I cut some mushrooms in quarters.

I added these directly to the pot.

Then I cubed a russet potato after I had peeled it. I added these to the pot as well.

After the vegetables were softened (10 minutes from when I added the onion mixture), I added two tsp of cumin, two fresh basil leaves, and a tablespoon of fresh thyme. If you don't have any fresh thyme, a tsp of dried is just as good.

Stir for 1 minute.

See the brown stickiness on the bottom of the pot? That is where the delicious flavor is contained. You need to scrape up those bits by adding a liquid to help it dissolve. I added 1/2 cup red wine. Then I scraped the bottom of the pot with a wooden spatula to loosen the bits and help them melt into the wine. I don't have a picture of what this looks like because it happens quickly.

Once you have cleaned up the bottom of the pot, it is time to add the liquid. I put 1 cup of tomato sauce, 1/4 cup of worcester sauce, and 1 3/4 cup water (or you could use veggie broth), another pinch of salt, and some cracked pepper into the stew and brought it to a simmer.

Then I put a lid on the dutch oven and put the whole thing into the oven.

Then I left this alone for 1 1/2 hours. You could even let it go up to 2 1/2 hours. Just check every now and again to make sure all the liquid doesn't burn off.

About 15 minutes before I wanted to serve the stew, I took it out of the oven and put in a loaf of rosemary bread I had gotten from the bakery. I turned off the heat and let the bread get nice and crusty in the cooling oven. Here is what the stew looked like after resting for 15 minutes:

The aroma of the cooked vegetables with the wine was amazing and my boys and husband came in to see what all the good smells were about.

I served the stew in a bowl with a slice of crusty bread.

Doesn't that look amazing! Let me tell you, it was soooo good. The leftovers are even better the next day. This is an easy meal to add or subtract whatever vegetables you have lying around. Have some green beans? These would be good in the stew. Or how about some fennel? You could even use parsnips, or celery root in this stew. Yum!