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Bonnie's Italian Stew

4.9(10)

Bonnie is a lady I met in Pittsburgh, PA and this recipe is based on her enthusiastic description of a family favorite passed down to her. It's meat and potatoes Italian style - meatballs and potatoes in red sauce with green beans. YUM-O! Bonnie cooks the meatballs as dumplings in in sauce. I brown mine a bit in the oven first to make them a little more stable for a make ahead meal - they won't break up as easily with a crust on them when you reheat them.

by Rachael Ray·published 2015-06-07

Open original recipe

ItalianMain Dish

Servings

6 servings

Total time

—

Calories / serving

680 kcal

Ingredients (23)

serves

Whole milk, enough to just cover breadmilk
Two 1-inch slices good-quality white bread, crust trimmedbread
1 1/2 pounds ground beefground-beef
About 1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese or Parmigiano-Reggianoparmesan
About 3 tablespoons EVOOolive-oil
1 teaspoon fennel seedfennel-seed
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakesred-pepper-flakes
2 to 3 cloves garlic, grated or finely choppedgarlic
1 large eggegg
A generous handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely choppedparsley
Salt and freshly ground black peppersalt-and-pepper
Olive oil cooking spray
2 tablespoons EVOO, plus more for servingolive-oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly slicedgarlic
2 medium onions, chopped1 fresh bay leafonion
Salt and freshly ground black peppersalt-and-pepper
3 tablespoons tomato pastetomato-paste
1 to 2 cups beef stockbeef-stock
Two 28-ounce cans Italian tomatoestomato
A handful fresh basil leaves, torn
2 pounds small to medium white or red skinned potatoes, cubedpotato
12 ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into thirds on an anglegreen-beans
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino cheese for servingparmesan

01Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
02For the meatballs:
03Pour the milk over bread and soak to soften.
04Place the meat in a mixing bowl and add the cheese, EVOO, fennel, crushed red pepper, garlic, egg, parsley, salt and pepper.
05Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and crumble into crumbs as you add it to the meat. Combine the meatball mix and roll into 2-inch balls. Place the meatballs on nonstick baking sheet sprayed with olive oil spray and roast until browned but not fully cooked, 10 to 12 minutes.
06For the stew:
07Meanwhile, heat the EVOO in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the garlic, onions and bay, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until translucent, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes. Then add the tomato paste and stir until fragrant. Add the beef stock and tomatoes, then break up the tomatoes with a potato masher. Add the basil, potatoes and meatballs and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat back to medium, partially cover and cook 10 minutes. Add the green beans and cook 7 to 8 minutes more.
08Serve, or cool completely and store for make-ahead meal. Reheat over a medium-low flame, partially covered, stirring occasionally (or reheat in a 325 degree F oven) until sauce is bubbly.
09To serve, top shallow bowls of stew with cheese and an extra drizzle of EVOO.

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Not rich — missing servings, total time, or calories.