Heart is where the Stew is....

The truth is, I never ate beef until I was 24 years old. This had absolutely nothing to do with religion or beliefs. I just thought cows were cute and huggable...

 My fiance loves beef. He lives for steak. He finds poultry and seafood an alternative, for weaklings, only and when beef is not present on the table. So I tried, and up till today cannot stomach the gamey bloody juicy steak he enjoys.. But a hearty beef stew is another thing altogether... It can be comforting and I was semi-converted.

So I tried a few recipes from Paula Deen, Good ol Jamie, and the very famous Julia Child! My very picky partner complained about it being either too sweet, or pungent or lacking the oomph! to it..

So I came up with my own recipe.. And here it is! He thinks it's lip smacking.. You might find it so too...

What you need is...

•  1.5 - 2 kgs of Chuck beef, Skirt steak or Rump.
• A handful of chopped up bacon (optional)
• 2 large yellow/white onion (quartered or roughly chopped into big pieces)
• 1 bulb of garlic (whole)
• 1 yellow bell pepper and 1 red bell pepper
• Fresh mushrooms
• Baby carrots (or one whole big carrot chopped into large 2 inch pieces)
• Pink Potatoes
• A can of chopped tomatoes
• 3 Bay leaves
• 2 tablespoon of low sodium real beef stock (optional)
• A handful of dried porcini mushrooms (optional)
• A bag of bouquet herbs from Waitrose ( or if you can't find it, put in a teaspoon of each of dried thyme, sage, parsley and oregano )
• 1 tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar 
• Italian Parsley (for garnishing - (optional)
• A 400-500ml bottle of cider (optional)

Ingredients that are marked optional, are exactly the little additions I made to the traditional beef stew recipes available online which made it one of a kind. Bacon lends a depth in terms of richness. Beef stock makes up for the taste of beef which might diminish when you add overpowering ingredients such as mushrooms and potatoes to the stew. Porcini mushrooms give it a unique flavor and aroma. Cider gives it a natural sweetness once the alcohol has burnt off in the cooking process and Parsley, brings some bright color to the oaky color of the stew. Without these, you could still make a mean finger licking stew, but just saying.. why settle for the ordinary?

Step 1
In a heavy bottom pot, or cast iron casserole pot if you have one, brown the bacon with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Keep the heat on medium high. Once the fats start rendering, remove them from the pot and place them in a bowl.

Cut your beef into 2 inches cubes. Not too small as they will shrivel up due to the long cooking process. You'd want it to fall apart when you fork it. Now season it with pepper, a heap of teaspoon of salt and some cornstarch. Mix it around and then return it to the pot with another 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sear it like this...

You don't have to cook it for long. Turn it around every 1 minute for 3 minutes. Once the meat changes color and you see dark brown sears on it, remove it from the pot and put it aside. 

See the brown charring at the bottom of your pot? Fret not and DO NOT WASH! This is where the flavors have settled and will lend a wonderful deep brown color to your stew.. Even if there are burnt bits, don't worry.. Hours of boiling will break them down.

Next up, your veges...

Chop your mushrooms and bell peppers into big pieces. If your mushrooms are not big, leave them whole. They will shrivel up into nothingness I assure you. As for the onions and garlic, just break the pod of garlic into halves and remove access skin. Leave the rest of the skin on. I prefer to use baby carrots because I'm lazy. I use pink potatoes because again, you don't need to peel them. Just halve them and you're done, with skin and all..

Saute your mushrooms first for about 2 minutes and remove them from the pot. Then add the garlic, onions, bell peppers and carrots and saute them until the onions are translucent. Add in your 3 bay leaves ( 2 if they are big) and then add in the magic ingredient... CIDER!!!

Any brand is fine. Blackthorn, Strongbow, Savanna, but I had Gaymers on hand so that's what I used. It doesn't matter if it's apple or pear cider. pour in the 400ml bottle into the garlic, onions, bell peppers and carrots. and watch it simmer like crazzzzy.. Give it a stir and the brown bits from the pot will start floating up. It's called deglazing. After 1 minute, put in the beef and bacon that you have set aside earlier.

Put in the bouquet of herbs. You can get it from Cold Storage Grocer and it's called Bouquet of Garni, but Waitrose. Or if you can't find it, you can put in your own herbs as mentioned above, with or without a muslin cloth.

Add in the potatoes and a can of chopped tomatoes. Using the same can, fill it with water and pour the water in. This is where you also add the handful of dried porcini mushrooms.. Stir it all up, set the heat to medium and let it simmer for the next half and hour. Give it another stir, to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot, and lower the heat to medium-low. Cover it and simmer it for an hour on the stove, or put it in the oven at 150 degrees C for 2 hours. 

There you have it.. the not so humble beef stew. Throw in the italian parsley right before serving it out! Serve it with plain couscous or just a good homebaked baguette... Now that is a recipe.. most definitely, for another day!

As Julia Child would say, Bon Appetit!!