Yummy Beef Stew and Dumplings

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Butter or Olive Oil
1 onion, diced
4 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2lb beef, cut into 1″ cubes
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons thyme
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
8 cups beef stock

For the Dumplings:

1 cup flour
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme

Instructions

Place 1 Tablespoon of butter or olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat.
Season the cubed beef with half of the salt, pepper and thyme. (And additional seasoning, if using.)
Sear the beef on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove to a small bowl.
Place the remaining tablespoon of butter in the stockpot.
Add the onions, carrots and celery to the hot butter and cook until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes.
Add the garlic and remaining seasoning and cook 1 minute.
Stir in the tomato paste, followed by the beef, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, crushed tomatoes and beef stock.
Cover and let the stew come to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer as you prepare the dumpling dough.
In a medium bowl, stir together the dumpling ingredients. The dough will be very sticky.
Drop the dumpling in 2 Tablespoon-sized balls into the stew and cover the stockpot with a lid.
Continue to simmer for 10 minutes until dumplings are plump and tripled in size.

Notes

You can double or triple the dumplings as needed. I like cooking extra dumplings separately in a bit of broth.