Shepherd's Stew with Dumplings

As cooked by Laurie

Sometimes you just need some comfort food.  In this case it was a rainy, dreary, and cold spring day and Laurie felt like soup.  What a great variation this dish is on the classic comfort food, Shepherd’s Pie.  But in this case the ingredients are magnificently turned into stew.

The ingredients are similar; but what looks like pasta is not.  It’s gnocchi, a thick soft dough dumpling which in this case is made with potato.  


The photos below show a few of the steps.

Cook the ground beef and/or ground lamb

Sautee carrots and onions

Add mushrooms

Sprinkle flour into the mixture and cook

Add back the meat.  Add chicken broth.

Add gnocchi

As served for dinner

Shepherd's Stew with Dumplings

What you need:

• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pound ground lamb or beef
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 medium carrots, cut into thin coins
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 springs fresh thyme
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, quartered
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flower
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 package (17.5 ounces store-bought potato gnocchi, barely defrosted ahead of time
• 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint, chopped

What to do:

Instructions are in the Food Network's book "The Chopped Cookbook", pages 148-149 or online, here.

Modifications and suggestions:

1. Shown in these photos are carrots sliced thinly on the diagonal.  They taste the same, but look very nice.
2. Shown in these photos are "button mushrooms" rather than quartered larger mushrooms.
3. Chicken bouillon made from "Better Than Bouillon" replaced wine.
4. Do not omit the mint leaves, even if you have to use dried instead of fresh.