Comfort Food: Southern Living's Beef Stew with Cheddar Biscuits

Comfort Food: Southern Living’s Beef Stew with Cheddar Biscuits

October 5, 2020
Baby Gifts, Gifts, Holidays, Recipes

Can you tell that I REALLY love to cook hearty comfort foods? I promise I cook for my family during summer, too! But I have such a weakness for “stick to your ribs” kinds of dishes. I saw this recipe in an email from Southern Living several weeks ago and immediately added the ingredients to my grocery list. Even my hard to please eaters gobbled this up and also happily ate the leftovers the next day.

Beef Stew with Cheddar Biscuits

Although this recipe is called “beef stew with cheddar biscuits,” I referred to it as “Southern Shepherd’s Pie” when my children asked what we were having for dinner. Swap out biscuits for mashed potatoes, and it is very similar to my shepherd’s pie recipe. Without further adieu, here’s the recipe, courtesy of www.southernliving.com:

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef sirloin
1 (14-oz.) pkg. frozen pearl onions, thawed
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon minced garlic (from 1 garlic clove)
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 (12-oz.) pkg. frozen peas and carrots, thawed
3 cups beef stock
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups shredded mild Cheddar cheese
1 cup whole buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°F. Heat a large (12-inch) cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Add lean ground beef sirloin. Cook, breaking up and stirring with a wooden spoon, until well browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Add pearl onions, fresh thyme leaves, minced garlic, black pepper, and 3⁄4 tsp. kosher salt, and stir until combined. Cook until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, and sprinkle with all-purpose flour. Cook, stirring often, until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add peas and carrots; stir to combine. Stir in beef stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together self-rising flour and 1 tsp. kosher salt in a large bowl. Using your hands, work unsalted butter into mixture until it clumps together and becomes pea-size pieces. Stir in 1 cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese. Stir in whole buttermilk just until incorporated.
Using a 1⁄4-cup ice-cream scoop, drop biscuit dough directly on top of stew, leaving about 1⁄2 inch of space between biscuits. Sprinkle top with 1⁄2 cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese.
Place skillet on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake in preheated oven until biscuits are browned and flaky, 20 to 22 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes, and serve.

I followed the recipe exactly and everything went according to plan. We ate this while watching football, basking in the glow of our Halloween tree.

Halloween Tree

Speaking of football, I completed this order a few weeks ago. Although these are definitely NOT my teams, I had a lot of fun working on these.

Football Bibs

Bring on all things fall!

My pink door still makes me SO happy! So do these goobers.