With a massive winter storm bearing down on the east coast this week, I am in need of warm and comforting dinner ideas. I am used to roughly three days of winter, but apparently it is snowing in Florida this year, and I am just not cut out for the cold. I realize Florida "winter" is not anything like a winter anywhere north of here, but if Florida is this cold, than everyone must need some extra warmth this week. This stew is the perfect warming winter dish to take the edge off of the winter chill. It is best served by a warm fire with a fabulous red wine.
Beef Stew with Pumpkin Butternut Mash
Serves 4
5oz frozen cubed butternut quash
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
1tbsp butter
1lb beef stew meat
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 large carrot, sliced
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 14.5oz canned pumpkin
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tsp ground cloves
1-2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tbsp butter
2 tsp fresh thyme for serving
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash and peeled garlic on lightly greased baking sheet. Cover lightly with foil, and roast approximately twenty minutes, or until squash is cooked through and tender. Remove foil and roast another twenty or so minutes until squash and garlic develop a brown and slightly caramelized color. Transfer to a food processor.
While squash is roasting, brown the lightly salted* beef over medium heat in a large dutch oven. Once browned, remove from dutch oven and set aside. Add onions, carrots, and garlic to dutch oven, and sauté, scraping up the browned bits from the beef. Once softened, add beef back to dutch oven along with wine, stock, and thyme sprigs. Lower the heat and cover to slowly braise the beef for roughly one hour.
Meanwhile, combine roasted squash, garlic, pumpkin, 1 tbsp butter, salt, cloves, allspice and pumpkin pie spice in the food processor, and process until smooth and creamy. Season to taste with salt.
Once beef is cooked through and tender, remove the lid of the dutch oven, and increase heat, allowing stew liquid to reduce by at least half. Stir in tomato paste and butter, and continue reducing until a thick, stew-like texture is achieved. Once reduced, season with salt to taste.
To serve, ladle stew over pumpkin mash in a shallow bowl. Sprinkle with fresh thyme.
*Adding too much salt early in the cooking process will leave you with a salty stew once the liquid is reduced, so wait to add your salt (other than a small amount for the beef) until just before serving to ensure that you get the appropriate salt level.
