Beef and Wine Stew with Black Olives

Fabio’s American Home Kitchen
Fabio Viviani

I tried this stew out a couple of weeks ago (and haven’t posted it till now – sorry!) and while it wasn’t bad, at all, I wouldn’t call it a favorite either.  Don’t get me wrong, it was very good.  But it also calls for pitted black olives which are marinated in an extremely salty brine.  At least those are the only pitted black olives that I know of.  If you know of others, I’ll just say that I guess it’s an Italian thing because I never saw pitted black olives that were marinated/cured any other way.  Because of the saltiness of the olives, if I ever make this stew again, I would decrease the amount of salt the recipe calls for.  The stew itself, on it’s own, wasn’t salty at all.  But once you combine it with the olives, then it needed some “adjustment,” in my opinion.

I’ll tell you, though, what *was* fun was lighting the marsala on fire.  That was pretty cool.  And shouldn’t you have fun while you’re cooking?  I know I enjoy the heck out of cooking, so this adds a little extra fun into the preparation.

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Ingredients:
2½ pounds beef round, cut into 1½ inch cubes
¼ cup flour
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup Marsala
1½ cups red wine
½ cup beef stock
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 to 6 sprigs fresh thyme tied with twine
One 1-inch long strip of orange peel
1 cup button or cremini mushrooms, halved
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 cup pitted black olives
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

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Dust the beef with flour.

Melt the butter with the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add the meat and brown it until the outer red color is gone, which can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it!

Increase the heat to high, add the Marsala and, with the help of a long match, set the alcohol aflame and let it burn out.

Add the red wine and let it bubble fast for about half a minute.  Add stock and bay leaf.  Season with a dash of salt and pepper and add the bouquet of thyme and orange peel with the mushrooms and garlic.  Turn the flame as low as possible, cover the pan with at least 3 layers of parchment paper, and then place the lid over it.

Cook the stew for about 3 hours.  Five minutes before serving remove the thyme bouquet and add the pitted black olives.  Taste for seasoning, add parsley for color, and serve with crusty bread or boiled rice.

Beef Stew

The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Food From My Frontier
Ree Drummond

I don’t think anyone would disagree when I say that beef stew is definitely a comfort food. But there’s so many versions out there, I figured why not try a few and see which ones we like best.  And this one has beer!  That may be a plus or a minus depending on your tastes.  And while I’m definitely no fan of beer, I don’t mind cooking with it.  Lastly, the only thing I left out of this one was the minced parsley at the end.  Maybe it’s me, but parsley doesn’t go with beef stew.  Besides, the recipe actually makes a point of saying it’s optional.  So I opted out.

This recipe was fairly easy and there wasn’t a lot of prep involved.  The most time consuming part is the 3 hours it takes to make from start to finish.  But that can be said of any stew, not just this one.

Quick note:  Towards the end where the recipe says to take a cup of the liquid and add the flour to thicken the stew, I actually repeated that step twice to thicken it a little more.

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Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 pounds beef stew meat
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can or bottle of beer
4 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoon tomato paste
½ teaspoon paprika
1½ teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly grated black pepper
4 new potatoes, quartered
4 carrots, unpeeled, roughly sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Minced parsley, for garnish (optional)
Crusty bread, for serving

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Start by heating up the olive oil and butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Throw in the stew meat and quickly brown it on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Remove the meat to a clean plate and set aside.

Throw the onion into the pot, the reduce the heat to low.  Stir the onion around to cook until softened, about 3 minutes.  Then throw in the garlic and stir it around to cool for a minute.

Pour in the beer, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, paprika, sugar, salt, and pepper.

Finally, return the met to the pot, cover it, and simmer the stew over very low heat for 1½ to 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender.  If the liquid level gets too low, add 1 to 2 cups hot water as needed.

Add the potatoes and carrots to the pot.  Stir them in and continue simmering for 30 minutes more, or until the vegetables are tender.

To thicken the stew, remove 1 cup of the cooking liquid and whisk in the flower.  Pour the flower mixture into the pot and simmer for an additional 10 minutes, or until the stew is very thick.  Add parsley at the end  and serve with crusty bread if desired.

Red Wine Pot Roast

The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Dinnertime
Ree Drummond

I’ve made this pot roast about 3 or 4 times now and it’s quickly becoming a favorite.  I’ve made it with two different cuts of meat.  A chuck roast and a rump roast.  And the chuck roast is a much better cut.  A fattier cut which makes it a moister piece of meat.  The rump roast, while also somewhat marbled, has a tendency to be a bit dry after it’s cooked.  Ladling some of the pan gravy over the meat will moisten it, but if you have a choice, absolutely go for the chuck roast.  The way it falls apart once it’s cooked is a thing of beauty.  If a pot roast can be considered beautiful, that is…

In addition to the vegetables that are cooked with the pot roast, I made a stuffed eggplant that my daughter requested I make for her, being a lover of all things eggplant.  And yes, the recipe will be posted.

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Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
One 4- to 5-pound beef chuck roast
2 onions, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups red wine (optional, you can use more beef broth instead)
2 cups beef broth
¼ cup sweet orange marmalade
4 carrots, scrubbed and cut on the diagonal into 1-inch chunks
4 parsnips, peeled and cut on the diagonal into 1-inch chunks
5 large, red potatoes
3 thyme sprigs
3 rosemary sprigs

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Preheat the oven to 275°F.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy, ovenproof pot (with a lid) over high heat.  Salt and pepper both sides of the roast and sear it for about a minute on one side, and a minute on the other side.

Remove the meat to a plate, reduce the heat to medium-high, add the onions, celery, garlic and tomato paste.  Stir it around and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften and the tomato paste releases it’s flavor.

Pour in the wine and then stir and scrape the pot to get up all the browned bits on the bottom.    Pour in the broth and then stir in the marmalade.

Return the meat to the pot.  Top it all off with the carrots, parsnips, potatoes, thyme and rosemary.  Push the veggies and herbs into the liquid, then put the lid on the pot and roast for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat is fork tender.  (For a 3 pound roast, plan on 3 hours.)

Place the roast in a serving dish (if it falls apart, that’s a good sign) and place the vegetables all around it.  The spoon on as much sauce from the pot as you’d like and serve.