Saturday evening, Jesse and I went to a get together out at Jason Seib’s house and had a freaking blast! The food was phenomenal (his wife is a stellar cook), the drinks were dangerously good (and strong — thanks, Jason) and the company was fantastic. It was a chilly and rainy night, and being inside a cozy house out in the country with good food, friends and games was just what was needed. I hated to see the night come to an end, but there will be more fun times ahead. Jesse and I even stayed until after Midnight!
For dinner, Jason’s wife made one of the most delicious soups/stews I’ve ever tasted. I couldn’t distinguish what spices were in it, but the ingredients inspired this creation that I’m sharing with you. I used stew meat instead of the ground beef that she used because that’s what I had on hand and it needed to be eaten. It came out pretty darn good, but still has a little different flavor than hers. Seriously, I don’t know what she put in hers, but need to figure it out!
Jesse and I ate this for dinner over candlelight last night because the power went out. Thankfully, the stew was done simmering on the stove and not in the middle of cooking. It was kind of fun, but also made us realize that we’re not very prepared for power outages when it’s dark outside. It was our second one of the weekend, but the first was during daylight hours. They weren’t super quick outages either — the first on Saturday was about 90 minutes to two hours and the second one on Sunday was close to an hour. This is all thanks to the rainy and super windy weather we had all weekend. With that said, I thought it seemed fitting to name the recipe a rainy day stew. You can even see all the water on my deck in the pictures. I had to sneak these pictures when I could, as it’s been extremely challenging with the rain, wind and gray skies!
Rainy Day Butternut Squash Stew
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp grass-fed butter
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped (keep some seeds in if want it spicier)
- 2 lb grass-fed beef stew meat
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken or beef bone broth
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp paprika
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp chili powder
- Pinch of cayenne
- Sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 2.5 cups fresh butternut squash cubes
Directions:
- Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno and red pepper. Stir and cook a couple minutes. Then, add the stew meat and season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
- After 5-7 minutes, once meat has browned, add the tomato paste and mix well. Then, add the crushed tomatoes, bone broth, coriander, paprika, chili powder and cayenne. Add more sea salt and pepper, if desired.
- Bring the stew to a simmer and then reduce heat to medium-low, and cover with a lid. Allow to cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- After the two hours, add in the butternut squash and stir. Cover with a lid and continue to simmer for another 1-2 hours or until meat and squash are tender.
- Adjust seasonings as needed and serve.
Looks so good! Luckily the rain hasn’t started here yet! Sounds like you had a great weekend 🙂
Thanks, Naz and yes, we had a fantastic weekend! It’s a little early for the rain to be starting here, but hopefully it’ll stop soon. Normally, September and October are still pretty nice and sunny here, so I’m not sure why the rain is early. Hopefully, we’ll have those Indian summer days for the month of October!
I lived reading your story and about how much fun you all had. It makes me miss my friendship with you and Jadon even more! This recipe looks delicious…very similar to what I whipped up for myself last night!!
If you ever nail down Sheryl’s recipe, I’d love for you to share 😄
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to write about! Yes, I’ll share Sheryl’s spice secret if I ever find out. Hers was SO good, but was also more of a soup than a stew. She also made a fabulous, buttery squash dip that we were dipping raw veggies in. My gosh, the woman is a fab cook!
Butternut squash like most of the squash family take well to seasonings such as powered ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. I also add some powered chili powder (ancho, pasilla ).
Yep, I often use those spices with squash. Thanks!
This looks like comfort in a bowl!
That’s a pretty accurate description. Maybe that’s what I should have named it!
Any idea for how to make this lower carb? I usually only eat squash after an intense workout, and would love to enjoy this at whatever time of day! 🙂
Use less squash or omit it, although I wouldn’t recommend it because it’ll change the stew quite a bit. Even though squash has more carbs and is starchier compared to other non-starchy veggies, it’s still not that carb heavy. Maybe use this as a meal on your workout days?
can you add a pinterst button to your blog PLEASEEE! there are so many great recipes but i forget about them because i can’t pin!
Hey Rebecca, if you go to the bottom of the post and click ‘share’ a drop-down menu will appear and you’ll see the pin button there. I actually forgot this was there, so I’m glad you reminded me to check into it. Hope this helps!
Okay, even better…I changed my settings so the buttons are out in the open now, instead of in the drop-down share menu where they were prior (and often got missed). They’re still at the bottom of the post, before the comments.
YUMM-Y! This looks like my kind of dinner….cannot wait to try this at home! Haven’t found butternut squash here in Brazil yet, but have seen a lot of pumpkin – this should be a good substitute no?
Yes, pumpkin would be great in this!
how did u prepare the butternut?
The butternut squash goes in raw and you just peel it, scoop out the seeds and cut it into cubes.
Would this work in a crock pot? It sounds so much better then the stew I was planning with my frozen beef chunks. 🙂
Probably, I would just add the squash halfway through the cooking time, so it doesn’t turn to complete mush!