Yup, more stew. February is often the coldest month here, despite it being Spring, and cold weather requires pots of delicious, warming, entirely unphotogenic stew.

This is another recipe from Isa Does It. I’m a big fan of injecting some fresh herbs into things, especially when it’s a little on the wintry side outside. I’m also slightly dumpling obsessed at the moment, largely stemming from chats over gyoza with friends last weekend.

This recipe uses a roux to start, like I’ve seen multiple times in my Southern cookbooks. Usually I’d thicken a stew right at the end, so this was new to me. Being a little more careful with the cooking temperature was definitely needed; I imagine leaving this unattended and overheated would result in it welding itself to the pot!

The recipe serves 6-8, so I cut it in half – apart from the garlic. We loooove garlic. I also used canellini beans instead of navy beans, which don’t seem to exist here. Also white, creamy beans are more or less interchangeable for this I think. I also used smoked paprika instead of sweet, as that’s what I had in the press.

Onion, garlic, celery, carrot and potatoes are simmered in veg stock with the roux. In the meantime, a super simple dumpling mix gets stirred together. Once the potatoes are getting tender, add the beans and heaping teaspoons of the dumpling batter. Clamp the lid on and don’t lift it again for 14 minutes.

Stew in under an hour, including prep. Very exciting!

The dumplings were delicious – really light and fluffy. The whole thing came together really nicely, and I’d happily eat this again (just as well, as with potatoes and dumplings going on, it’s really filling and there’s loads left for lunch tomorrow). Next time, I’d probably add a little squidge of tomato purée and up the carrot and bean content slightly.