A healthy and wholesome meal for $1.70? Yep, I’m serious. This recipe from my latest book I Quit Sugar: Simplicious is literally the cheapest stew ever made. And with a few tweaks in can be turned into a healing autoimmune stew – my go-to fix on days when my Hashimoto’s is playing up.
This stew is drastically cheaper than chips. It’s also minimum fuss. Just dump all the ingredients into the slow-cooker and a few hours later you can tuck into a warming meal. To make my autoimmune version, see the ingredients you’ll have to swap below.
The Cheapest Stew Ever
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 large carrots, cut into 3 cm chunks
- 2 large parsnips, cut into 3 cm chunks
- 2 swedes or potatoes, cut into 3 cm chunks
- 2 celery stalks, chopped, leaves reserved
- 2 bay leaves
- 1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 cups homemade Beef Stock
- 1 parmesan rind (if you have one in your freezer)
- 1.5 kg stewing beef (blade, chuck, brisket – whichever’s cheapest), cut into 2 cm cubes
- 1 tablespoon English mustard
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups Par-Cooked ’n’ Frozen silverbeet or kale (page 22)
Place all the ingredients, except the silverbeet or kale, into the slow-cooker insert. Cover and cook on low for 8–10 hours or high for 4–5 hours. Remove and discard the bay leaves and parmesan rind (if using).
I’ve designed it so it can be served as a stew with leftover stock or a hearty soup with lots of leftover meat.
*To serve as a stew: Remove half of the meat and 2 cups of stock from the slow-cooker insert and set aside (see below). Add the silverbeet or kale and all but a few of the reserved celery leaves and heat through. Serve topped with the few remaining celery leaves and a big glug of olive oil.
*To serve as a soup: Remove all of the meat from the slow-cooker insert, add the silverbeet or kale and reserved celery leaves (keep a few for garnish) and heat to make soup. (Purée it with a stick blender if you prefer.) Serve sprinkled with the remaining celery leaves and some sliced sourdough on the side.
Make it an autoimmune stew:
When I’m inflamed and my immune system is cranky with me, I amend The Cheapest Stew Ever a touch to make this cytokine-pacifier. I swap the onions for 1 fennel bulb, chopped, ditch the potato and use swede or sweet potato, and serve with steamed zucchini or asparagus and a HUGE glug of olive oil. (Cobram is my favourite.) (This is not a sponsored post.)
Don’t forget to use the hashtag #simplicious when you share your version of this and other Simplicious recipes on social media!
