Wild Mushroom and Bison Stew

Bison meat and wild mushrooms give this stew rich flavor—but beef and button mushrooms work just as well. (Jennifer McGruther)

Serve this robust and deeply flavorful mushroom stew over mashed root vegetables for a simple, warming autumn supper. While wild mushrooms, such as chanterelle and boletes, give the stew an extraordinary, rich flavor, you'll find that it’s equally good when made with the button mushrooms you can find at your local grocery store. If you can’t find bison stew meat, beef stew meat makes a fine substitute.

Serves 6

• 1 pound bison (or beef) stew meat
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 4 ounces bacon
• 2 medium yellow onions, diced
• 4 medium garlic cloves, chopped fine
• 1 pound mushrooms, quartered
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 4 cups beef stock
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh marjoram

Dump the stew meat into a medium mixing bowl, then add the flour, salt, and pepper. Toss the meat in the seasoned flour until uniformly coated. Set it aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

Warm the olive oil in a Dutch oven set over medium heat, then toss in the bacon. Fry the bacon in the hot oil until crisp, then dump in the diced onions and garlic. Sauté them together with the bacon until translucent and deeply fragrant, about 8 minutes.

Toss in the meat and cook for about 5 minutes. Next, stir in the mushrooms and continue cooking them with the stew meat and onions for another 8 minutes.

Pour in the red wine and beef stock, taking care to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Stir in the tomato paste, then drop in the thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves. Turn down the heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, about 45 minutes, or until the meat is tender.

Remove the stew from the heat, and pluck out the thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and marjoram and serve warm.

This recipe originally appeared at NourishedKitchen.com and is reprinted by permission of the author.