Last Thursday I was lucky enough to be cooked a delicious GAPS friendly meal by my friend Rebecca. She did a slow cooked beef roast with steamed veggies (cauliflower, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans) and roasted baby dutch carrots and butternut pumpkin. It was so special to be able to go somewhere for dinner and not have to take my own food. Thanks girl, I really appreciate it.

Rebecca’s the one giving the camera a thumbs up. Champion.

While the whole meal was delicious, the one element that I just couldn’t stop raving about was the broth. It was so rich and tasty – probably the best I’ve ever tasted (this could be to do with the fact that I just throw bones, ACV and filtered water into the slow cooker with no herbs, spices or veggies – I usually like my broths to be a blank canvas so I can use them for anything, but now I’m thinking I need to lift my game and shake things up). I ate two big bowls of the broth as ‘dessert’ while everyone else indulged in Rebecca’s homemade raw chocolate and caramel slice (totally all real food ingredients but my high maintenance, sugar-loathing body still wouldn’t be able to tolerate it) with the coyo brand cherry and cacao nib coconut ice-cream (I didn’t feel deprived at all … if you’d told me a few years ago that I’d happily sip on broth while those around me ate a naturally sweetened dessert, I most likely wouldn’t have believed you … it’s amazing what perspective does to the psyche hey?)

Anyways, Rebecca didn’t object to me sharing the broth recipe, as I promised her absolutely all the credit (and rightly so). In order to re-create this broth-gasm at home, this beautiful girl even donated some of her homegrown herbs (and chucked in a few kilos of lemons from her tree – nothing to do with the recipe but I love my lemon juice in the mornings and I wanted to boast about her selfless generosity – love you stunning one!)

I only made a few adjustments to the original recipe when I cooked it, so I’ll give you both options and you can try both and see which one you prefer.

Rebecca’s Special Broth Recipe

(Original Method)

• 1 large beef roast
• coconut oil for frying
• fresh parsley and rosemary
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 Tablespoon crushed garlic
• herbamare herb salt
• water to half fill the slow cooker

Method

Saute the onion, garlic and rosemary in coconut oil (or tallow – you could also use butter, ghee or lard) until slightly browned.

Then add the roast (so you’ll need a large frying pan) – or ox tails, and brown the outsides of the meat.

Transfer to a slow cooker and sprinkle the herb salt (if using) over the meat, half fill the pot with water (or broth) and add the fresh parsley.

Cook for about 10 hours (not sure whether on low or high, her mum owns a really cool vintage slow cooker and I think it just has a default setting but if you’re unsure, I’d suggest cooking on high for 4 hours and then switching to low for the rest of the day … that’s what I did) or until it smells amazing and the meat is tender and has a melt-in-your-mouth thing going on.

Serve with veggies of choice and reserve broth for drinking and/or making a soup.

My tweaked version

• I used 6 ox tails rather than a whole beef roast (It’s what we had and I knew it would taste similar – maybe a touch sweeter)
• I didn’t add herb salt but put it on the table so my family and I could add our own to taste
• I used tallow rather than coconut oil (because I have heaps of it in the fridge)
• Instead of using water I used leftover beef broth that had been made with filtered water