Sunday Night Stew Will Warm You Right Up (2024)

Piping hot, flavorful, gorgeous, thick stew is perfect with mashed potatoes on Sunday night...or any night!

Yesterday was cold and windy and shivery and frigid, and to psychologically withstand such things, I made Sunday Night Stew and mashed potatoes for dinner.

Now, Sunday Night Stew is very different from any other kind of stew. It’s different from any other kind of stew in that it can only—and this is absolutely vital—be made on Sunday night. If it is made on Monday night, then it automatically becomes Monday Night Stew, which, by virtue of the Law of Stew Weekday Exclusivity, would nullify its Sunday Night Stew status.

I exhaust myself sometimes. Sorry. Let me start over:I made stew last night. I also made mashed potatoes. When I took my first bite, I experienced bliss. Ihope you’ll give it a try this week. It was oh, so very good.

(Only please do keep in mind that you will not be able to make the stew until next Sunday night. And if you do make it before next Sunday night, you will not be able to call it Sunday Night Stew.)

(Thank you for listening.)

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Yields:: 8 serving(s)
Prep Time:: 15 mins
Cook Time:: 3 hrs
Total Time:: 3 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients

FOR the stew

3 tbsp.
olive oil
1 tbsp.
butter
2 lb.
beef stew meat (chuck roast cut into chunks)
Salt and pepper
1
whole medium onion, diced
3
cloves garlic, minced
4 oz.
tomato paste
4 c.
low sodium beef stock or broth, more if needed for thinning
Several dashes Worcestershire
1/2 tsp.
sugar
4
whole carrots, peeled and diced
2
whole turnips, peeled and diced
2 tbsp.
minced fresh parsley

For the Mashed Potatoes

5 lb.
russet potatoes, peeled
1
package (8-ounce) cream cheese, softened
1
stick butter, softened
1/2 c.
heavy cream
1 tsp.
seasoned salt
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

For the Stew:
1. Step1Salt and pepper stew meat. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add butter, and as soon as it melts, brown half the stew meat until the outside gets nice and brown, about 2 minutes. (Turn it as it browns.) Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon and put it on a plate. Add the rest of the meat to the pot and brown it, too. Remove it to the same plate. Set the meat aside.
2. Step2Add the onion and garlic to the pot, stirring it to coat it in all the brown bits in the bottom of the pot. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomato paste to the pot. Stir it into the onions and let it cook for 2 more minutes.
3. Step3Pour in the beef stock, stirring constantly. Add the Worcestershire and sugar. Add the beef back to the pot, cover the pot, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours.
4. Step4After 1 1/2 to 2 hours, add the diced turnips and carrots to the pot. Stir to combine, put the lid back on the pot, and let it simmer for another 30 minutes. The sauce should be very thick, but if it seems overly so, splash in some beef broth until it thins it up enough. Feel free to add beef broth as needed!
5. Step5When the carrots and turnips are tender, stir in minced parsley. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve piping hot in a bowl with mashed potatoes, letting the juice run all over everything. Sprinkle with extra minced parsley at the end.
For the mashed potatoes:
1. Step1Cut the potatoes into quarters and cover with water in a large pot. Boil until potatoes are fork tender, about 25-30 minutes. Drain the potatoes, then put them back into the same pot. With the heat on low, mash the potatoes for 2 to 3 minutes to release as much steam as possible.
2. Step2Turn off heat, then add cream cheese, butter, cream, seasoned salt, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
3. Step3Serve potatoes immediately or spread them into a buttered baking dish to be reheated later. To reheat, put them in a 375 degree oven, covered in foil, until hot.

Here’s what you need for the stew!

Start by salting and peppering the meat on both sides.

Then dice up an onion…

And mince up some garlic.

Heat some olive oil in a big ol’ honkin’ pot over medium-high (or high, if you can HANDLE the heat!) heat…

Then, when the oil is hot, drop in a pat of butter. It’ll melt really quickly!

Sorry to shout so much!

Throw in half the meat in a single layer…

And turn it all over to the other side when it starts to brown.

When it’s browned for a couple of minutes, remove the meat to a plate.

Then throw in the rest of the meat and brown it, too.

Reduce the heat just a bit, then throw in the onions and garlic…

And stir it around for a couple of minutes to let it cook.

Please don’t be alarmed by how brown the pot looks. I looked out the window and got a little distracted. Charlie was looking up at the top of a tree in our yard, and he would not take his eyes off the top of the tree, even when I knocked on the kitchen window and yelled “Charlie! What are you looking at? Charlie! Charlie?” Then I saw a squirrel running up and down the trunk of the tree, stopping just short of Charlie’s height. Then, just as Charlie would start to run toward the squirrel, the squirrel would cackle and run back up the tree. I cracked up, and then I was angry. What kind of sick squirrel would get a kick out of taunting a poor, defenseless, malodorous Basset?

What has the animal world come to?

And besides, it worked out fine. The stew was marvy.

Throw in the tomato paste…

And stir it into the onions and garlic. Let it cook for a minute or so…

Then pour in the beef stock, stirring around the stuff in the pan as you pour it in.

Once you’ve got it all poured in…

Add the plate of meat…flavorful juices and all!

Stir in the meat to combine…

Then add a little salt and pepper…

And just a leetle bit of sugar. About a half a teaspoon or so.

Back to the savory, add a few dashes of Worcestershire…

And briefly bring it all to a bawl. I mean boil. Then reduce the heat to low…

And violently put the lid on the pot and let the stew…stew!

Actually, don’t violently put the lid on the pot. You might smash your thumb and then you’d be mad at me. This would upset me greatly. I would be in a bad mood. Then I’d get mad at the cat for looking at me funny, and this would upset the cat greatly. And the cycle would continue.

So what I’m saying is, set the lid on the pot gently!

And I love you.