I made this stew a couple of days ago in preparation for dinner today (when I knew I wouldn't have time to cook). The same day I made the mushroom risotto actually, in the bid to use all those mushrooms I bought at half price. The beauty with the stew is that it actually gets better with time, in my opinion. It is also a great dish to have around for fussy eaters or families with differing tastes because there is so much in it you can pick around what you don't like and still have a complete meal. This particular batch of stew contains cubed beef, onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, red peppers and a medley of legumes (kidney beans, chick peas etc). I have been eating less meat recently (I think I could quite happily live on chicken and fish with the occasional transgression when the call for prime rib or ribs calls!) and I have been loving eating the gravy and vegetables over mushroom risotto. I am sure my husband was pleased to find so much meat left behind!
The key to a good stew is getting it thick and tasty. In order to do this you need flour, frying and lots of tasting. I cubed the beef removing any large pieces of fat or grissle and tossed it in seasoned flour. You can season flour with anything really, as simple as salt and pepper or as much of what you have as you like. I used some Montreal Steak Spice, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, coriander and chilli flakes. You transfer your floured meat to a hot pan with a little oil in it and fry/brown the meat, turning it to seal all the pieces. This process adds tonnes of flavour to your stew. You may need to do several batches of frying depending on how much meat you have, you don't want to overlap the cubes in the pan or it won't brown properly, and likewise you may need to add more oil for each batch. (Keep the unused seasoned flour for later on). Put the browned beef into a large pot then fry chopped onions in the same pan used for frying the meat. Add garlic, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, beef stock cubes (or liquid beef stock and don't add water later on), more chilli if you like heat, red wine if you have any available, water and let it come to a boil. As it heats scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and incorporate into the liquid. While this is heating up, peel and cut up carrots, celery, mushrooms, peppers, whatever you want to add to it really, and drop on top of the meat in the pan. Once the liquid is boiling tip it into the pot, you want the liquid to just cover all the contents of the pot. Sprinkle some of the seasoned flour into the pot too and stir it in, this will help thicken the stew, as will the flour on the meat. (Still keep unused seasoned flour). Transfer the pot to a hot oven and let it simmer for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally to keep things from sticking. After an hour or so, check to see if a piece of meat is cooked (which it should be) and then taste the liquid. Season accordingly. If the stew isn't thick enough, make a paste out of your left over seasoned flour and water and add it to the stew slowly so as to not over thicken it. Stir it in and it should thicken up straight away, keep doing this until you are happy with the consistency. If your stew is bubbling, that should be suffice to cook the flour, if not you may want to put it over a flame and bring it to boil to ensure the flour is cooked. Once you are satisfied with your stew either serve it or let it cool completely and put it in the fridge for a later date.
As mentioned previously, I have been eating the stew gravy with mushroom risotto. Today I ate it with nshima, which is a staple diet in the country where I grew up (Zambia). Nshima has a playdough consistency and doesn't smell particularly appetising. When I lived with my Grandparents in the UK they used to threaten that I had to eat in the garage whenever I started to prepare this dish as it smelt so bad to them! It comes from the kassava root, which is soaked (to remove poisons) then dried and then pounded into a fine flour. This flour is mixed with boiling water until it is incredibly thick and very hard to stir, and you continue to stir it as best you can until all the flour has been incorporated. You then pick up a small handful of the stuff, roll it into a ball in your hand (all using one hand), make an indentation in the ball with your thumb and use it like a mini scoop for your gravy (or whatever else you are eating with it). We used to eat it with all kinds of relishes, leaves, wild mushrooms etc. I grew up eating nshima, my mother said they used to line up tiny balls of it on my high chair tray when I was too little to make my own so that I could eat it with them. The corn meal ('mealie meal') version is far more popular these days, and a little more time consuming to make as it needs cooking but I am a loyal fan of the original kassava version I was raised on. I believe kassava is readily consumed in some South American countries and the Caribbean too, though I think it may be customary to eat it as a whole root? In fact it may have been eaten whole back in Zambia from time to time, though not as common place as the nshima version.
We now have lots of 'staple' dishes in the fridge to pick at until the weekend, which is nice from time to time. Especially when people are eating at odd times etc.
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