Beef Stew with Cauliflower & Green Beans

Over the past few weeks in Los Angeles, we've actually had some Fall "weather". Last Sunday was rainy and chilly and I was in the mood for stew.  Max suggested that we unearth the crock pot that I rarely use, so that dinner could prepare itself while I joined him on the couch for a proper Football Sunday.  I thought this was an excellent idea and while he washed off our dusty crock pot, I fished out the little cook book that came with the purchase. Sure enough, they had a recipe for Wild Mushroom Beef Stew.  As with traditional beef stew, this recipe called for potatoes and carrots, which we forewent.  And, since Max doesn't like them, we also left out the mushrooms and celery.  Instead, we made a simple stew with beef, onion, cauliflower and green beans.

Below is my modified recipe.  The recipe called for only 1.5 cups of beef broth. I thought this sounded scant, but gave it a go.  You will see from the pictures that about two hours into the cooking, I added another cup and a half, along with a 6 oz. can of tomato paste.  If you're in the Tear Down Phase, simply omit the tomato paste.

INGREDIENTS
1.5 to 2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/8 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. herbs de Provence (optional)
3 cups beef broth
6 oz. can tomato paste
1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. paprika
1 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
1 onion, chopped
12 oz. green beans

DIRECTIONS

Put the beef in the crock pot.  Top with almond flour, salt, pepper and herbs de Provence.  Mix together to coat the meat.

Add the onions and cauliflower.  In a small bowl, mix together the broth, tomato paste, Worchestershire sauce, garlic and paprika.  Pour into crock pot and stir all ingredients together.  Add the bay leaf.

Cover and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours or on High for 4 to 6 hours.  Add the green beans about 3/4 of the way into the cooking.  Stir the stew thoroughly before serving.  Taste the broth and adjust seasonings as necessary / to your liking.  I added salt, more herbs de Provence and more Worchestershire.

For a little extra interest, I topped my stew with chopped parsley and crispy shallots.

I have a renewed interest in making use of my crock pot and am reminded about how satisfying and comforting is stew on a cold day.  So, I encourage you to light a fire and break out the crock pot on your next cold, rainy, snowy, lazy Sunday.