Warm Up with Double Carrot Stew

With winter closing in, this is the time of year that my kitchen switches over from salads, stir-fries and steamed foods to stews, braises and roasts. It's a yearly ritual dictated as much by the prevailing weather as my mood.

But just because the mercury is falling doesn't mean I want to abandon all vegetables in favor of meat. As the name implies, this stew has more carrots in it than meat. By grating some of the carrot into the braising liquid, it not only imparts flavor and color, it lends a natural sweetness to the sauce without adding any sugar. The subtle sweetness accentuates the fruity flavors of the tomato providing a sublime contrast for the rich, meaty beef.

While most people assume raw veggies are the most nutritious, that's not necessarily the case. In his book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, Michael Pollan posits that cooking enabled us to spend less time chewing while allowing us to absorb more of the nutrients, which in turn allowed our brains to grow bigger with more time to use it to develop things like language and civilization.

While nutrients like Vitamin C are destroyed by heating fruits and vegetables, lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomatoes is increased by cooking. Likewise, levels of beta-carotene, which the body converts to Vitamin A, is increased by cooking carrots.

This dish works best with a cut of beef with lots of connective tissue such as a deboned shank, but it will also well with chuck or short ribs.