If you think of enjoying a warm, hearty bowl of beef stew, you may think of a winter’s night. Beef stew is also great any time you are in the mood for comfort food. This past week, I prepared beef stew to take to the Northwoods, where the nights were cool the first part of the week.
Beef stew is a great make-ahead dish. You can do all the shopping, cooking and clean-up the day before, and the stew only improves as the flavors blend in the refrigerator overnight. The stew will be ready to be heated for a sit-down dinner, a potluck or a buffet, or you can just have stew ready for individuals to heat and eat after travel, a sports practice or other activities.
The recipe attached to this post calls for potatoes, carrots, rutabaga and peas, and you can change things up to your liking or to use up available ingredients. As some examples, omit rutabaga, add parsnips or use green beans instead of peas.
The recipe was inspired by a recipe in Mom’s Best One-Dish Suppers by Andrea Chesman. The book contains recipes for comfort food from Louisiana-Style Shrimp and Rice to Pad Thai.
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