Sunday, May 17, 2015

Provencal Beef Stew



Attracted by the colour of its beautiful picture in the recently acquired recipe book, I decided to cook it since it also looked easy to make. It is my first attempt of a French dish. 

Well, its taste is unique and a bit of sourish, and the hint of the orange zest gives out another fruity taste. As I used shallots instead of onion (only found out that I ran out of onion during preparation), this might affect the final result. Looks like i have to give it another try.  


Recipe: Serves 4

Ingredients: 
3 tbsp olive oil
115 g thick-cut bacon, diced
900 g stewing stewing steak cut into 4 cm pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 ripe tomatoes, peeled,seeded and chopped
2 tsp tomato puree (paste)
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
250 ml/1 cup fruity red wine
150 ml beef stock ( I used 1 beef stock cube + 150 ml water)
1 bouquet garni (thyme/parsley/bay leaf etc) (I used 2 pieces dried bay leaves)
1 small onion, studded with 2 cloves
grated zest and juice of 1/2 unwaxed orange
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt and ground black pepper

Method:
1)   Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy frying pan, then add the bacon stir-fry until browned and the fat is rendered.

2)  Working in batches, add the beef  to the pan in a single layer, pan-fry (do not over crowded the pan,  or the meat will stew in its own juices and not brown) until all sides are browned, about 6 - 8 minutes. Transfer the beef to the ceramic cooking pot and continue browning the rest of the meat in the same way, adding more oil when needed.

3)  Pour the wine and stock over the beef in the ceramic cooking pot, then add the bouquet garni and the onion.  

4)  Add the remaining oil and the onion to the frying pan and cook gently for 5 minutes, until softened.  Stir in the tomatoes, tomato puree and garlic, then transfer to the ceramic cooking pot.

5)  Cover with the lid and switch the slow cooker to low.  Cook for 5 -7 hours, or until the beef and vegetables are very tender.  Uncover and skim off any fat.  Season, discard the bouquet garni and clove-studded onion, and stir in the orange zest and juice and the parsley.



1 comment:

  1. Hi Andrea Chiu, thank you for reading my blog. I would like to hear from you soon.

    ReplyDelete