Chili Stew

Yesterday, after an amazing day skiing, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up just a few things that I needed for my planned frittata for dinner. For the second time this month, there were NO eggs at the store! Ack! What to do? What to make for dinner? Bob and weave, Eliza! I knew that I had some stew meat in the freezer, so I went home and started to defrost it realizing that there was no way it would be defrosted by the time I wanted to eat. Enter the Instant Pot! Man, I love this thing- is there anything it can’t do?

I just wanted to eat something warm and delicious. So quickly adjusted my beanless chili recipe and Viola! A chili stew!

Here is what you need to make a big pot of stew- enough to feed 4-6 people, depending on appetites and if you have any teenage boys to feed (I do, so it only fed 4 people).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 2 cups mushrooms, chopped
• 4 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
• 1 T tomato paste
• 2 pounds stew meat, cut in to 1 inch cubes
• 1 oz dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup beef bone broth (or other broth)
• 3 T chili powder
• 2 T ground cumin
• 1 T smoked paprika
• 1 T oregano
• 2 tsp salt

Optional toppings: fresh avocado slices, sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, chopped onion, hot sauce, etc.

DIRECTIONS

Set your Instant Pot to saute and add in the bacon pieces. Cook those until they are brown and just slightly crispy. Remove the bacon bits from the pot with a slotted spoon, leaving behind the oil.

Toss in the onion, garlic, celery, mushrooms, and carrots and stir them around, allowing them to cook until everything is softened. Stir in the tomato paste.

Add the stew meat, salt, spices, and chocolate. Stir well until the spices cover all the meat and veggies in the pot and everything is well combined.

Finally, add in the broth. Turn the saute function off. Add the lid and set the lid to Sealed. Set the pressure to high on manual for 35 minutes. When it is done, all the pressure to release naturally, which will take some time, probably around 20-30 minutes.

Serve it with all the desired toppings!