As much as I love rice and pasta, I wanted to try to experiment with lentils to make a stew. This doesn't have any meat and surprisingly I was quite full after a couple servings. It would be good with stew meat if you have any. I used some butter and beef broth but you can substitute vegetable broth to make it vegetarian/vegan (not that I have vegan readers on a blog that has hunting but all are welcome).
Ingredients:
2 lb mini bella mushrooms cut in 1" chunks
1.5 lb potatoes in 1" chunks
1.5 cups chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium onion chopped
1.5 cups brown lentils
3 cups beef or vegetable broth
16oz can crushed tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
6 T chopped garlic
2 T Worcestershire sauce (omit if vegetarian/vegan)
2 T soy sauce
2 T fresh thyme
2 T fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
Salt/pepper to taste
Instructions:
1)Melt 2 T butter and 2 T olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat
2) Add the carrots, celery, and onions and season with salt/pepper. Add the tomato paste and allow it to brown (this adds lots of flavor!)
3) Add the garlic and stir 30 seconds until fragrant then add the potatoes and mushrooms
4) Add the broth, tomatoes, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt/pepper, herbs and bay leaf and stir. Make sure to scrape everything up from the bottom of the pan
5) Bring to a boil then add the lentils. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 1 hour until the lentils are soft, stirring occasionally. Add broth if needed
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