{"id":3716,"date":"2011-02-12T15:19:30","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T19:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heidiannie.com\/?p=3716"},"modified":"2011-02-12T15:19:30","modified_gmt":"2011-02-12T19:19:30","slug":"beef-stew-a-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/?p=3716","title":{"rendered":"Beef stew- a recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"008\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are many recipes for beef stew out there.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like most of them, they seem to be meat and vegetables in a soupy base.<\/p>\n

This is actually made with an oxtail base and finished off with toothsome dumplings.<\/p>\n

It is slurry thick with goodness and sticks to your ribs on a cold winter\u2019s evening.<\/p>\n

This is the magical pot of stew that you have read about in fairy tales- it\u2019s aroma<\/p>\n

wafting out the doorway and enticing hungry and  weary travelers to come in and<\/p>\n

sit and eat.<\/p>\n

You need to start early in the day to make this for dinner, although it only gets<\/p>\n

better with time- so if it isn\u2019t completely ready in time for dinner- order in some<\/p>\n

pizza or Chinese and serve this the next day.<\/p>\n

It is worth the wait.<\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/p>\n

2 medium sized oxtails<\/p>\n

1 medium sized onion<\/p>\n

1 stalk celery<\/p>\n

Oxtails are often fatty- I braised the oxtail with the vegetables (adding about 2 TBS water)<\/em><\/p>\n

until the water mostly evaporated and the fat had laid down a good coating on the bottom<\/em><\/p>\n

of the large pan.  Discard the onion and celery.<\/em><\/p>\n

1-2 lbs. of stewing beef or chuck roast, cut into 1\/2 inch cubes<\/p>\n

1 large onion, diced<\/p>\n

3 ribs celery, diced<\/p>\n

3 large carrots, peeled, chopped<\/p>\n

1 parsnip, peeled, diced<\/p>\n

1 cup frozen peas<\/p>\n

2 TBS paprika<\/p>\n

2 TBS balsamic vinegar<\/p>\n

1 large can diced tomatoes<\/p>\n

1 bay leaf<\/p>\n

3 cups beef broth or water<\/p>\n

Salt and pepper, to taste ( I use about 1 good tsp each)<\/p>\n

Dumplings, recipe to follow<\/p>\n

With the pan still hot from the oxtails, and the cooked vegetables discarded, <\/em><\/p>\n

drop about half of the cubed beef into the pan and sear.  When it is lightly browned<\/em><\/p>\n

you can add the rest of the beef and brown on medium high heat.<\/em><\/p>\n

Add onions and turn heat down a little \u2013 cook until onions become <\/em><\/p>\n

translucent.  Add paprika and stir, then add vinegar and put lid on pan <\/em><\/p>\n

letting  the beef simmer in the spice and vinegar mix for about 10 minutes.<\/em><\/p>\n

This sets the flavors into the beef making each bite succulent.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now add the tomatoes and again, cover the pan and allow to simmer for another 10-20 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n

– this will break down the tomato and give the meat a nice deep flavored sauce.<\/em><\/p>\n

Add vegetables (except the peas), bay leaf, and 2 1\/2 cups water or broth and season with salt and pepper.<\/em><\/p>\n

You may need to add just a little more or less broth- you want a very liquid-y look<\/em><\/p>\n

because you are going to let it simmer for at least an hour and a half.<\/em><\/p>\n

Taste a small piece of beef after the long simmer and if it doesn\u2019t almost melt in your<\/em><\/p>\n

mouth, cover and allow it to simmer for another 45 minutes to an hour.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, add 1\/2 to 1 cup broth and raise the temperature until it comes to almost a slow boil.<\/em><\/p>\n

Make dumplings.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/p>\n

1 1\/2 cups plain flour<\/p>\n

large pinch of salt<\/p>\n

1 large farm fresh egg<\/p>\n

1\/4-1\/2 cup water<\/p>\n

Place flour and salt in bowl and make a well in center of bowl.<\/em><\/p>\n

Slightly beat egg and 1\/4 cup water together and pour into well.<\/em><\/p>\n

With a fork, keep beating the egg, adding a bit of flour from the sides<\/em><\/p>\n

as you go along- if it seems too dry add some more water.  You want <\/em><\/p>\n

a sticky dough.  <\/em><\/p>\n

Using a teaspoon, wet the tip in the stew and take a small amount of <\/em><\/p>\n

the dumpling dough and slide the spoon into the stew to release the <\/em><\/p>\n

dumpling.  Make the dumplings as small as the beef chunks you started<\/em><\/p>\n

off with.  This will take some time, but the dumplings are worth it, believe me.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you have made dumplings out of the whole bowlful, cover the stew<\/em>,<\/em><\/p>\n

add the frozen peas, <\/em><\/p>\n

and let the dumplings cook about 12 minutes or more.  Taste and make<\/em><\/p>\n

sure they aren\u2019t raw in the middle.<\/em><\/p>\n

The stew should not be boiling fast, turn the heat back down to low \u2013 fish<\/em><\/p>\n

out the bay leaf and serve.<\/em><\/p>\n

My husband loves to eat the oxtails in his stew.  If you don\u2019t have anyone<\/p>\n

who loves meat that much, fish them out as well, and you can cut off the <\/p>\n

meat from the bone and add it back into the stew.<\/p>\n

\"010\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many recipes for beef stew out there. I don\u2019t like most of them, they seem to be meat and vegetables in a soupy base. This is actually made with an oxtail base and finished off with toothsome dumplings. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recipes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}