Hearty Ten Vegetable Stew

Whoa...just realized it's been a long time since I've posted up any recipes!  I haven't really been terribly experimental lately, even with all the cookbooks I've purchased in the six months.  Time to change that little travesty! 

As I've posted previously, one of my 2011 goals is to incorporate Meatless Mondays into our lifestyles - and I gotta say, me and Hubs are doing stellar on this one.  Ten out of ten on this goal so far!  I might even expand it into two meatless days per week for 2012 - it'll give me some time to incorporate some good vegetarian recipes into my repertoire so we don't end up making the same thing over and over again. 

So - one of the recipes that I just tried that Hubs loves is this ten veggie stew that I got from the 2011 America's Test Kitchen Light & Healthy.  This magazine is chock a block full of great recipes...I've tried this veggie stew and a yummy potato leek soup that we really liked as well.  We actually just had it again for dinner and Hubs kept saying how good it was...aaaah, yes....success!

Hearty Ten Vegetable Stew - from America's Test Kitchen Light & Healthy

1 pound mushrooms, sliced thin
2 tbsp canola oil
salt
8 ounces swiss chard, stems and leaves separated, chopped fine into 1/2 inch pieces
2 onions
1 celery rib, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 carrot, peeled and cut 1 inch thick
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 cups vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups water
8 ounches red potatoes (about 2 medium), cut into 1 inch pieces
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 bay leaves
1 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
pepper

Combine the mushrooms, 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a large Duch oven.  Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until softened, 8 to 10 minutes.  Uncover, increase the heat to medium-high and continue to cook until well browned, 8 to 12 minutes longer. 

Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, chard stems, onions, celery, carrot, bell pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon salt and cook until the vegetables are well browned, 7 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in the flour and tomato poaste and cook until  lightly browned, about 1 minute.  Stir in the wine, scraping up any browned bits, and simmer until nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes.  Stir in the broth, water, potatoes, parsnips, celery root and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. 

Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover and cook until the stew is thickened and the vegetables are tender, about 1 hour.  Stir in the chard leaves and zucchini and continue to simmer until tender, 5 to 10 minutes longer.

Remove and discard bay leaves.  Stir in the parsley and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Per 1.5 cup servicng:  Cal: 160  Fat: 4g  Sat fat: 0g  Chol: 0mg  Protein: 4g  Fibre: 5g Sodium: 450mg

My changes:  I used kale instead of chard as I love kale.  Next time I might amp up the garlic and thyme a bit as well (I used fresh thyme, and maybe didn't quite put enough in).  The other thing I wanted to note is to not skimp on the first step of browning the mushrooms well - it really adds flavour by creating a flavourful fond in the pot, and stops the stew from being too sweet from the root veggies.

Yummm...love it when recipes are good for you AND taste great.