Orange Beef Stew with Black Pepper & Orange Dumplings

I actually made this last week but forgot to hit the publish button! It was a very tasty stew. Even better the next day(all stews are in my opinion!)

2lbs beef, cubed
1/2 cup corn or potato starch(flour is ok too)
salt and pepper to taste

2 TB butter
2 TB olive oil

Juice of 2 large oranges(about 1 cup)

1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
2 large carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups beef broth
1 cup fresh green beans, cut(frozen are fine, no canned though)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 TB orange zest
1 bay leaf
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cloves
salt and pepper to taste

In a bag or large lidded bowl combine cubed beef , starch and salt/pepper. Shake well to coat evenly.










Over medium high heat butter and olive oil in a large deep skillet. Add meat and sear evenly on all sides(you may need to to this in batches depending on your skillet size.)

Remove meat and place in slow cooker
To the pan add the orange juice to deglaze the pan, heat and stir/scrape until all the chunks are up off the pan.








Add orange juice and all the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker, add just enough water so that all the ingredients are submerged. Cook on low 6-8 hours, high 4-6


About 45 minutes before you want to serve, do the dumplings

Dumplings:
1/2 cup sorghum flour*
1/2 cup potato starch*
1/2 tsp xanthan gum*
1 TB sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 TB butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 TB orange zest
1 TB coarse ground black pepper(start with 1/2 or less if you only have fine ground)


* replace these with 1 cup all purpose flour if you dont want GF

Combine the dry ingredients and mix well, cut in butter until it resembles pea gravel,










add milk, egg, zest and pepper and mix well.

Drop healthy spoonfuls of dumpling batter directly on to the hot liquid.










Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook 10 minutes more. Scoop and serve!