A slow-braised beef stew built on bone broth, anchovy depth, and a last-minute lift of kale

Some weeks the only way you get dinner is if you make it once and eat it 4 times. This stew is built for that. It takes a real afternoon, mostly hands-off, and it makes enough that Tuesday and Wednesday are already handled by the time you sit down tonight. As you move toward Remission, a week where standing at the stove every night asks too much still needs a real dinner, and this is how you get one.

Bone broth is doing the real work in this dish, and it leaves behind real glycine, the amino acid your body calls on most when it's patching up gut tissue. Anchovies melt in without tasting like fish and add real savory depth, and there's iron in the beef too, tied to steady energy on days when you're already running low. Nothing in this pot is fussy, and every part of it is quietly doing something for you.

There's a kind of gratitude in using a whole animal well, in stretching 2 pounds of stewing meat and a handful of anchovies into 4 real meals instead of wasting any of it. Stir the kale in at the very end so it stays green, and let the smell of the thing fill the kitchen while it does most of the work without you.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or other solid cooking fat, divided
• 2 lb beef stewing meat
• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 large stalks celery, chopped
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 4 medium carrots, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano, or regular oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 large bay leaf
• 50 g anchovy fillets in olive oil, chopped
• 2 1/4 cups rich bone broth
• 1/2 large bunch green kale, chopped
• Pinch of sea salt, if needed

Method

1. Heat your oven to a low braising temperature, around 300F. Warm half the cooking fat in a heavy oven-safe pot over medium-high heat.

1. Pat the beef dry and brown it in batches so the pieces sear rather than steam. Set the browned meat aside.

1. Add the rest of the fat to the pot and lower the heat to medium. Soften the sliced red onion and the celery until they collapse a little, then stir in the garlic and cook just until fragrant.

1. Return the beef to the pot. Add the carrots, sage, oregano, thyme, bay leaf, and the chopped anchovies. Pour in the bone broth and bring it to a gentle simmer.

1. Cover the pot, move it to the oven, and braise until the beef is fork-tender, about 2 hours.

1. Lift the lid and stir in the chopped kale. Let it wilt in the hot stew for a few minutes. Taste, and add a pinch of sea salt only if it needs it - the anchovies and broth carry most of the salt already. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

Instant Pot variation

Brown the beef and soften the onion, celery, and garlic using the Saute function, then add the carrots, herbs, bay leaf, anchovies, and broth. Seal and cook on high pressure for about 35 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Open the pot, stir in the kale, and let it wilt in the residual heat before serving. The 35-minute timing is a reasonable estimate and is flagged for testing.

*Adapted from autoimmunewellness.com*