Cooking Without Nightshades, Gluten & More: Beef Ragout

Welcome

Join me as I discover and re-create recipes to fit my family's many food allergies.

I will be focusing on foods that do not include the nightshade family, gluten, soy, natural flavors, peanuts, MSG, nutmeg, cumin, raspberries, cherries, oats, pork, pumpkin, chamomile, pistachios, corn (unless it is organic), preservatives, food colors, natural and artificial flavors, cottonseed oil, spinach, aged & colored cheeses (cream cheese & mozzarella are OK, Monterey Jack is OK in moderation), yeast (unless in safe bread), anything cured, aged, fermented or malted. We also only use milk in moderation. The nightshade family is a particularly long list and includes spices, potatoes (sweet are fine), tomatoes, peppers & more.

Whew, yes, this is all a long list. What an adventure it is to cook this way.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Beef Ragout

Like many of you dealing with food allergies in your families, I ended up cooking two versions of a meal quite a bit or not making old favorites because we couldn't all eat them. I am trying to do away with making two different dishes and am trying to remake some of our favorite recipes to be allergy friendly. Today's recipe is an old favorite that called for regular potatoes. I had tried making it with regular sweet potatoes and it just didn't work, as the flavor of the sweet potatoes overpowered the rest of the ingredients. I decided to try it again, with the white colored sweet potatoes and this really worked well. I even like it and I do not normally like sweet potatoes. :-)

Adapted from a recipe in "Main Dishes with over 100 Complete Menus" by Sue Gregg
I have her set of cookbooks and I really love them. http://www.suegregg.com/

Beef Ragout (pronounced ragoo)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef, lean

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

1 1/2 tsp thyme leaves

1 1/2 tsp oregano leaves

1 large onion, sliced and then cut in half

6 medium carrots, thinly sliced

4 medium light-colored sweet potatoes

1/2 cup water

2 cups organic sweet corn (optional) or any frozen vegetable you like

Directions:

You will need a large skillet with a tight fitting lid.

Cut and slice onion, carrots and sweet potatoes, reserving to be added in layers to skillet.

Brown hamburger. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and oregano.

Layer over browned seasoned hamburger in order given: onion, carrots and sweet potatoes.

Season vegetables with some salt and pepper, to taste, as adding them to the skillet.

Pour 1/2 cup water over all.

Cover tightly and simmer until vegetables are tender. About 30 to 45 minutes depending on how thick you sliced the veggies.

Optional: Add 2 cups corn or desired frozen vegetable to pan during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Serves: 4 - 6

Tip:

I have started using ground white pepper in my cooking and have found that I love the flavor. It helps enhance the flavor without making it spicy tasting like black pepper.