Surprise Beef Stew

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Place soup bones on a rimmed baking sheet. Season with 1 tsp salt. Roast 30 to 40 minutes, flipping once halfway. While bones roast, prep veggies.
2. Transfer roasted bones to a 6 qt Dutch oven. Add 1 cup hot water to the roasting pan, scrape up browned bits and pour all the deglazed goodness into the pot. Add 7 more cups of water. Add Italian seasoning and optional vinegar, garlic and bay leaf.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce to a gentle simmer and partially cover. Simmer 3 ½ to 5 hours until meat is tender and pulls off easily (add more water as needed). Remove bones, once cool enough to handle, pull meat off, chop into bite-sized pieces and set aside (you can keep the bones and other bits in the soup to continue to add more flavor and collagen).
4. Bring broth back to a simmer. Add radishes and celery, simmer 20 minutes. Add mushrooms, simmer 10 minutes.
5. Add meat back to the pot and stir in 1 tbsp soy sauce. Simmer uncovered 15 to 30 minutes to reduce and thicken. Taste and add salt, pepper and more soy sauce if needed.

At this point it’s a keto beef stew (surprise #1), but if that’s unimportant to you can also add carrots and potatoes and 1 Tbsp of tomato paste or a can of diced tomatoes and if you’d like it thicker you can add cornstarch or arrowroot.

Notes: 

This stew will thicken more after chilling overnight. 

Soy sauces vary greatly in their ingredients from horrid to great so read those labels and find a clean one! 

Surprise #2: I know the radishes sound scary but try them and see if you aren’t pleasantly surprised. 

Surprise #3: The other surprise is using meaty soup bones instead of stew meat and bone broth. You’ll save money, add more nutrients and might find a new favorite cut with soup bones! Heck, I use them in place of chuck roasts and even ground beef in some recipes.