An (unnamed) Middle Eastern Stew

For those who are familiar with how I cook, you know I like stews.  A lot--Particularly ones from all over.

This particular one was inspired by a beef stew recipe in the book, Real Stews.

As always, the measurements are approximate--spices should be done to taste.  However, they are approximately proportionate.

1 stick butter
1.5-2 lbs beef, either ground or finely chunked
2 onion, sliced
1 cup spinach, measured as frozen
1 can diced potatoes
2 sweet potatoes, small pieces
1 head garlic, minced or zested
½ tsp cardamom
1 tsp fenugreek seed, ground
1.5 tsp caraway, crushed
½ tsp garam masala (or a touch of cinnamon, and extra pepper and cardamom
2 tsp turmeric
dried chilis (to taste
zest of one lemon
1 tsp + black pepper
½ tsp Forward! (from Penzeys spices)
2 cups beef stock
red wine (or cider) vinegar

Cook chilis in butter to extract flavour.  Skim, and discard chilis.  Caramelize onions, adding caraway; deglaze with a touch of the vinegar.  Brown meat, adding 2/3rds of garlic.  Add remaining ingredients, reserving 2/3s of the lemon zest.  Mix in the last of the garlic in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Serve over rice or couscous cooked with the 2/3rds lemon of zest and a handful of fresh basil.


© John Frey, 2014. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material, and the material above may not be duplicated for any commercial purpose.