Anystew

Posted on by

The perfect harvest dish (Rcp# 50)

Ingredients for ‘Anystew’ (basics for all versions)

  • General Ingredients
    • 3 – 4 fresh medium rosemary twigs or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
    • 3 – 4 fresh medium savory twigs or 1 tablespoon dried savory
    • 4 – 5 fresh medium mint twigs or 1 teabag of a good mild pure mint tea
    • 5-7 fresh basil sprigs (with 20 – 30 fresh leaves) or 3 tablespoons of dried basil
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 15 – 20 fresh chives (or 2 – 3 tablespoons frozen chives, chopped)
    • 2 tablespoons apple pulp (high quality applesauce without additives)
    • 2 tablespoons agave syrup
    • 150 ml olive water (water with vinegar and salt from an olive jar)
    • 1 teaspoon bear’s garlic in oil (for alternatives see post [‘Who’s Seen the Bear’])
    • ½ teaspoon smoked sea salt
    • Freshly ground pepper (mild, such as Tellicherry pepper)
    • 1 hunch of ground caraway
    • 200 – 300 g of a protein source (e.g. fermented soy tofu or tofu made from chickpea → you do not need this for version C)
    • 1 ½ liters of hot water
    • Canola oil for frying
  • Additional Ingredients for Version A:
    • 300 – 400 g green beans such as bush beans
    • 2 medium zucchini (about 300 – 350 g)
    • 300 – 350 g small tomatoes (date tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or similar)
  • Additional Ingredients for Version B:
    • Half a medium cauliflower (about 300 – 350 g, you need the top part with the florets, the bottom part with the leaves has to be cut off and set aside → see instructions on how to use this bottom part in the side notes below)
    • 2 sweet potatoes (about 300 – 350 g)
    • 2 pears, firm but still easy to cut (about 350 – 400 g)
    • a hunch of ground cinnamon or freshly ground nutmeg
  • Additional Ingredients for Version C:
    • 300 – 400 g mixed carrots and parsnips
    • 1 medium fennel (about 250 – 300 g)
    • 300 – 400 g dark edible mushrooms (I used cremini mushrooms)
    • 5 tablespoons red lentils
    • 2 tablespoons dried tomatoes (cut into small pieces)


Cooking Instructions for ‘Anystew’

Version A

  1. Briefly wash the herbs. Pick the leaves from the basil twigs and set the basil leaves aside with the cleaned chives. Place the cleaned twigs (savory, rosemary, and mint with leaves, basil without) in an empty stew pot. If you need to use dried herbs, put them in the pot here (all the rosemary, all the savory, and half the basil plus the mint tea bag).
  2. Wash and trim both ends of zucchini and beans. Set cuttings aside in the stew pot.
  3. Boil over the cleaned herb twigs and cuttings from the vegetables with 1 1/2 liters of hot water, allow to simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, then turn off the heat (leave a spoon under the lid).
  4. While the herbs are still simmering, cut the beans into 2-3 cm pieces. Place 2-3 tablespoons of canola oil in a frying pan. Heat the oil and add the bean pieces. Fry until lightly browned and still slightly crunchy, then remove from the pan and set aside on a large plate. Set the pan aside for later use (do not wash yet).
  5. Cut the zucchini into pieces about the size of a double sugar cube (quarter lengthwise, then cut into 4-5 cm pieces). Add 3 tablespoons of canola oil to the pan used to sauté the beans and heat the oil. Add the zucchini pieces and saute until lightly browned but still holding their shape, then remove from the pan and toss with the fried beans. Again, set the pan aside for future use.
  6. Cut the protein source (tofu or other) into pieces about the size of a sugar cube and fry them in the used pan. Add the fried protein source to the fried beans and zucchini on the plate.
  7. When the broth is ready (see step 3 above), pour it through a sieve. It should be about 1200 – 1300 ml. Take about 200-300 ml off the top, leaving 1 liter.
  8. Pour the olive water and the small amount of broth from step 7 into the used pan and heat. Dissolve frying residues and turn off the heat.
  9. Quarter the tomatoes and chop the basil leaves and chives.
  10. Heat the 1 liter broth in the empty stew pot (the one you used to make the broth and cleaned of the soaked herbs and leftovers). Add the agave syrup, a pinch of ground caraway, a little freshly ground pepper, and half a teaspoon of smoked sea salt.
  11. After boiling, reduce heat to low, add roasted beans, zucchini and protein source and stir carefully (if using dried basil, add the other half of the basil here), then turn off the heat and remove from heat source.
  12. Add the bear’s garlic in oil, the olive oil, the cut tomatoes and the chopped fresh basil and chives. Leave to stand for 5 to 8 minutes with the lid on but a wooden spoon under the lid to allow the stew to breathe (otherwise it will turn sour).

Version B


The preparations for Version B are pretty much the same as for Version A, except this time you have to slice half of the cauliflower in step 4 and break it into smaller pieces for frying. The sweet potatoes are treated the same as the zucchini above in step 5. Whether or not you want to peel the sweet potatoes is up to you. If they are fresh, I would leave them on; if they are from storage, I would cut out the bad parts and use the rest of the peel in the broth. The pears must be added at the end, just like the tomatoes in Version A, leaving the skin on (but of course removing the core and seeds first). You can add some of the leftover cauliflower to the broth, but I would save some for another use (see side notes below). Add the cinnamon or ground nutmeg (extra ingredient for this version) along with the ground peppercorn in step 10.

Version C

For this version, the peeled turnips must be cut into sticks (quarter the roots lengthwise and cut off pieces about 4-5 cm long). The fennel must also be cut lengthwise and then cut into pieces similar to the turnips. The leftovers from the carrots/parsnips and fennel – including the carrot and parsnip skins – go into the broth. Wash the mushrooms and separate the stems from the heads. First fry the carrots like the beans in Version A, then take them out (put them on a plate like the beans above) and fry the fennel pieces and the mushroom stalks (halved) together in the same pan, then take them out (step 5). Strain the broth and divide it as in step 7 of Version A above. Heat one liter of the broth and add the lentils and dried tomato bits. Cook for 5-8 minutes, then reduce heat to low and add the ingredients from step 10 plus the sliced mushroom heads. Simmer over low heat for another 5 minutes, add the sautéed ingredients (step 11), then turn off the heat and remove from the stove. Continue with step 12 (except that you do not add the tomatoes) and serve after letting it rest for 5 minutes as in all the versions (lid on, wooden spoon to prevent it from closing).

Each version makes 3-4 servings.

Side Notes:

  1. In Version B, you can of course use a ‘Pearzilla’ instead of two pears [‘Art or Edible?] A good piece of advice: Do not boil the pears in Version B or the tomatoes in Version A. This will turn everything into mush.
  2. The bottom part of the cauliflower is perfect for another spontaneous soup or stew. So cut out the ‘woody’ parts and chop the rest – including the green leaves – into equally sized pieces. Put them in the freezer and add them to any soup or sauce recipe. This tastes really good with typical winter vegetables/fruits like pumpkin or beetroot, so do not throw it away.
  3. This recipe is extremely easy to follow once you know the basic steps. Interestingly, you can keep the main ingredients in all three versions. This makes it even easier to turn the fall bounty into nourishing and warming stews. And this recipe is modular. That means you can swap out the three main ingredients for a different trio. All you need is one ingredient that can withstand a good frying, one that is a little more delicate, and one that can basically be eaten raw or briefly cooked. Of course, you can also leave out the lentils in Version C and add a fried protein source like in the other versions.
  4. I literally made all three versions in a row. I started with Version B to freeze for take-out, we ate version A on the spot, and the next day we did Version C as a team effort. It worked really well in every way: I had the recipe memorized by the second time I made it because it is so simple. Versions A and B are perfect for both eating fresh and using as a meal prep (you have to make Version C fresh because of the mushrooms!). And all three versions are very easy to do in a kitchen party because the steps can be separated very well.
  5. This makes excellent use of the ‘last cut of herbs’ before the weather gets colder. Also for the basil plants, which would die anyway.

Please note: For all my recipes (text) on this blog (By MagS, Parsley-Lane Blog) I grant a CC license under the terms of BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further explanations, please see the Legal Notice or visit creativecommons.org.