Hearty Vegetable Stew

I’m going to keep this short and sweet today. I finally caught that cold that was lurking around, and yuck-it hurts to look at bright screens. I’m so used to being ulcerative colitis sick that I forgot how annoying a head cold can be.

It’s funny because I was feeling like stew even though the weather has been more spring-summer-like. As soon as I made it my body was like “Sick food! Okay now I’m going to get sick, because you know, there’s occasion appropriate food available now.”

I was very stumped on what to call this dish for a while. It reminds me a little bit of chili, but it’s not spicy enough. It is a little like tomato soup, only there is a whole bunch of other vegetables in there as well. In the end I just settled for calling it a stew. I wanted something to feel like a grain in the mix (to make it “hearty”) so I spiralized carrots and then “riced” them using my Vitamix. I really ended up liking the results and I hope you do too.

You want about 1.5 to 2 pounds of large carrots. Try to get carrots that are almost the same size from the base to the tip because this makes them easier to spiralize. I cut them in half in the middle and place the larger end on the blades.

Rice the carrot spirals in small batches with a high speed blender or food processor. Repeat until all the carrot spirals are done. With soups, it is really advantageous to prep all your ingredients and have them ready to pour into the pot.

Prep 2 cups of chopped button mushrooms, 1.5 cups cubed butternut squash (I used frozen), 1 thinly sliced leek, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 3 tablespoons almond flour, 3 tablespoons tomato paste, 1/2 cup dry red wine, 3 cups vegetable broth/stock (homemade preferably-it is cheaper, healthier, and better tasting), 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice (I used fire-roasted diced tomatoes), 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon sea salt, and have a pepper grinder at hand.

I always feel conflicted when cooking with wine. Part of me cringes at pouring a really good wine into a cooking pot but why go out and purposefully buy bad wine? Luckily I live in California and there are a lot of really good wines at pretty decent prices. I just used what was already opened.

Once you have everything prepped, heat 3 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven on medium heat. Once warm, add the mushrooms, onion, leek, garlic, and butternut squash and sauté until soft, approximately 10 minutes.

Add the almond flour and tomato paste and stir until the flour is well combined, about 1 minute.

Add a 1/2 cup dry red wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, diced tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper.

Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Transfer to a slow cooker and add the carrot rice. Cook on low for 2 hours and 30 minutes. While the stew is cooking prepare 2 cups of collard greens (or kale). Remove the stems and then thinly slice the leaves (I do this by placing the leaves on top of each other, rolling them, and then thinly slicing them).

Add the collard greens (or kale) and re-cover. Turn to high and cook for another 30 minutes.

Transfer to a serving bowl and slurp it up. Yesterday I had a small serving of this with a cheese casadia and it made me sooooooo happy. It brought me back to the days when I would have canned tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. This is just the grown-up version.

Hearty Vegetable Stew

Servings 8

Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 hours hrs

Total Time 3 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 1 pound large carrots peeled, spiralized, and riced-about 2 to 2.5 cups
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups button mushrooms chopped
• 1.5 cups cubed butternut squash I used frozen
• 1 leek thinly sliced (the white and pale green part)
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 3 tablespoons almond flour
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 3 cups vegetable broth preferably homemade
• 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice I used fire-roasted
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 10 grinds pepper
• 2 cups collard greens stems removed and thinly sliced, or kale

Instructions

• Peel and spiralize the carrots.
• In small batches, with a high speed blender or food processor, rice the carrot spirals (with a Vitamix, pulse on speed 3 for a couple of seconds). Repeat until all the carrot spirals are done.
• In a large pot or dutch oven, heat 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Once warm, add the mushrooms, onion, leek, garlic, and butternut squash and sauté until soft, approximately 10 minutes.
• Add the almond flour and tomato paste and stir until the flour is well combined, about 1 minute.
• Add a 1/2 cup dry red wine and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Add the vegetable broth, diced tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper.
• Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil.
• Transfer to a slow cooker and add the carrot rice.
• Cook on low for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
• Add the collard greens (or kale) and re-cover. Turn to high and cook for another 30 minutes.
• Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy.

Author: Megan Wells

Course: Soups