Green Chile Beef Stew with Cheddar-Jalapeno Dumplings
I found a recipe for Green Chile Stew on the Epicurious web site. I liked the ingredients and flavors, but not the cooking method. I looked at the latest recipe I used for Beef Stew with Herbed Dumplings and decided to use that cooking method mixed with the ingredients from the Green Chile Stew recipe. The dumplings were my own creation; I based the idea for the dumplings in the Beef Stew with Herbed Dumplings Recipe.
Here is my adaptation -
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pound beef stew meat
- 2 teaspoons meat seasoning (1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper*, 1/2 teaspoon salt)
- 1 stalk celery cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 4 cups beef broth
- 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Peppers: I used 3 poblanos, 2 Anaheims, and 1 jalapeno **
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 c water
** NOTE - you never know how hot your peppers are going to be. For this reason, I think I would stick to poblanos next time - no jalapenos.
Dumpling Batter
- 1 egg
- 1/3 c whole milk
- 3/4 c flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 jalapeno, seeds/ribs removed and finely chopped (when I tasted how hot the stew was, I only used 1/2 of the jalapeno!)
- 1/3 c finely shredded cheddar cheese
Mix the egg, jalapeno, and milk. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the milk/egg/jalapeno mixture to the flour mixture until just blended. Lightly stir in the cheese.
Directions- First, make the green chili. Roast the peppers over an open flame until they are charred. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. After 15-20 minutes, remove the skins. Chop into bite-sized pieces and place in a pot with 1/2 c water, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until the water has absorbed.
- Heat oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven. While oil is heating, sprinkle meat with most of the meat seasoning. Add meat to the pot and brown; once browned, removed meat from the pot.
- Add onions, celery, tomatoes, green chile (pepper mixture), and the rest of the meat seasoning to the pot. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Return meat to pan and add 3 1/2 cups of the broth. Bring to a simmer, and then cover and transfer to a 325 degree oven for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
- Add carrots and potatoes, cover, and continue to cook in the oven until the potatoes/carrots are tender, approximately 25 minutes.
- Transfer pot back to the stove and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add remaining broth and let simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add spoonfulls of dumpling batter to the stew; cover and let cook for 15 minutes, until the dumplings are done.
The picture isn't that pretty so I saved it for the end -
This isn't what I was expecting. It was good, but had too much heat that overpowered the flavors. I don't understand why the recipe would have you add cayenne, and now that I have made it, I would definitely remove the cayenne and use chili powder and cumin instead to give it a deeper and more full flavor rather than just having heat.
The dumplings were very good, although they did lose a bit of their bottoms. Hey, I don't bake and probably didn't measure the ingredients for the dumplings exactly. Ok, I admit it, I was sloppy with my measuring :) But I'm sure if you measure everything exactly, they would be perfect!
I'm giving this one a Mexican tag because I think with my changes it would have a very full, Mexican flavor.
