Recipe of the Week: All-day Paleo Stew

All-day Paleo Stew

There is something about fall weather that makes me want to curl up with a good book, or good movie and just stay indoors. Maybe it is the torrential rain we have in Seattle this time of year, or the penetrating chill of cooler days, or my natural urge to hibernate once the days get shorter. Whatever it is, another element of the perfect cozy indoor afternoon is a pot of something warm, comforting, and filling on the stove. This past weekend, it rained pretty much most of the time, and so I decided to make a stew. I let it cook all day, which was not required, but really turned the meal into something special. The longer you cook a stew, the better it is. I took a recipe from Kelly over at Eat This, and modified it to fit what I had on hand.

Ingredients:

Four large carrots
1 turnip
2 large onions
2 large pork shoulder roasts (ideally, the meat should be lean meat for a closer-to-Paleo fat profile, but this was on sale, and for an occasional meal, it's not going to kill you--by occasional I mean no more than once per week. You probably should stick to lean most of the time if you are eating budget Paleo like me, here's why.)
1 cup wine.
3 T. mixed thyme, rosemary, and marjoram.
2 bay leaves.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Chop roasts into manageable chunks. (Mine were about 2 inches.) Brown in a dutch oven or large stew pot in batches. (My stew pot is a fairly large dutch oven, and with all the ingredients it was filled to the brim.) I browned the meat about a forth at a time so there was plenty of room, and the meat really browned , then I removed it to a large platter until it was all done. Next, chop the vegetables into large chunks. Mine were about 1 inch. Let vegetables brown for around 5 minutes, then add meat, herbs, salt and pepper, meat, and wine. Stir thoroughly, then cover and place in 350 degree oven for 2-3 hours. Every hour or so, check on the stew and stir it up a bit. After about 3 hours, remove the stew to the top of the stove, place it over a medium heat and remove the lid. You should have quite a lot of juice in the pot, and the idea here is to let it cook down. Let it simmer on medium, boiling all the excess liquid away for another three hours. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn--I pretty much let it boil for about two hours, stirring it every once in a while, then turned it to medium low for another hour, then low for another two hours. By the time we ate it, the meat was tender and falling apart, the onions, carrots and turnip had melded into a sweetness that truly complimented the meat and the stew was a tender delight. This is a low maintenance meal--something you can put on the stove and pretty much forget about. I give it four thumbs up on the yum factor! Especially edible.