Thursday, February 15, 2007

Slow Stewed Beef

In October 2005 I was really busy with work (major fundraising dinner) and had no time to put up recipes on the blog. Because I didn't want you, gentle readers, to go without tasty treats, I put call out for recipe contributions. I received several!

For the Valentine's dinner, I made one contributed by Brunette. And OMG I shouldn't have waited this long to make the recipe! I can't wait to make it again!

Brunette submitted a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine called Mahogany Beef Stew with Red Wine and Hoisin Sauce. What I ultimately made is basically the same recipe with changes.

Mahogany Beef Stew
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup flour
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
1 7 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup hot water
1 TB paprika
1 TB oregano
1/2 TB thyme
2 bay leaves

*Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over high heat.
*Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. Lightly coat with flour.
*Working in batches, add the meat to the pot; sauté until brown on all sides, remove to a bowl.
*Reduce heat to medium; add 2 tablespoons oil to pot.
*Add onions; sauté until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant.
*Add the wine and deglaze the pan. Stir in the tomato sauce, hoisin sauce and return the meat to the pot.
*Bring to a low simmer. Add the paprika, oregano, thyme and bay leaves.
*Cover pot and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
*The stew is done when the beef is "spoon" tender and the sauce has reduced to a thick, rich gravy.
*Discard bay leaves.
*Season stew with salt and pepper.

Make sure to taste and adjust the flavor as you go. I started with lower quantities of some of the herbs and spices and after a few taste tests, found the perfect blend. I do find the paprika necessary! The hoisin is really rich and a wee bit sweet. The paprika brings that sweetness in balance and enhances the richness.

I served the stew with basic risotto. Thank you Brunette for making our V-Day dinner so delish! And BTW: I just realized that this was the second V-Day you've influenced...last year we had the funny fondue that didn't quite turn out! FUN!

Onions and wine becoming best friends.

Everything's in the pot. Time to simmer and taste test along the way.

Super tender beef in the rich gravy!

Heaven. Really just wonderful.

I was chatting a bit today with Ms. Terri in WI and she's not a beef person. We discussed and thought that a nice pork roast would enjoy this treatment. Mmmm?!?!!!!!

Our wine was a Cab and it's called...Red Knot...an Australian red. Very good! Worked well in this recipe and drank nicely.

6 comments:

Dancer in DC said...

Sweet and yummy! Serving it with risotto was nice, because the saltiness of the risotto meshes well with the light sweetness of the beef.

I'm calling it St. Valentines Stew. :)

Stef said...

that sounds so good! Perfect for a freezing cold Valentine's Day!

ScottE. said...

Here is the red wine we had. Check it out.

Barbara said...

Looks like a wonderful dinner.

Anonymous said...

1. i didn't have all the stuff
2. i served it with rice
3. i chugged a glass of wine.
4. it was delicious!
5. i didn't have enough time
6. i'm going to try it again later so i can bring it in tomorrow for show and tell :)

ScottE. said...

I made this, this weekend.

http://sseichinger.blogspot.com/2008/10/pork-or-beef.html

I used pork instead of beef. Worked very well.

Also, I realized that the original recipe doesn't explain what the flour is used for. I'll be correcting that. Lightly coat the meat with the flour after seasoning with salt and pepper. This will help thicken the sauce as it cooks, and help give the meat a little color/crust during the initial searing.