‘Tis the season…to braise!

(I know he picture is a little blah, but what can I say, it's stew!)

For most people it is the season to roast, but braising is equally seasonal and sadly underappreciated. For those of you who don’t know, braising is when you gently simmer a meat in liquid, either on the stove top or in the oven. This is often done to tough (read: cheap & flavorful) cuts of meat to break down their overworked muscles and connective tissue, resulting in meltingly tender meat with a flavorful sauce. The tougher the meat, the longer you simmer. The lengthy cooking time warms up the house, while eating the saucy comfort food warms up the soul (as Nigella Lawson would say). And everyone is happy.

I usually opt for braising short ribs or veal shanks (osso buco), but this year I thought I’d kick off the season with a more basic dish, beef stew. But like most things, my idea of basic or simple is not the same standard the rest of the country uses. I found a beef stew recipe in the new Silver Palate Cookbook, which calls for cumin, one of my new favorite spices. Cumin is a relatively new spice to my cooking repertoire. It has a mildly exotic flavor, like a Mediterranean version of an Indian spice. For those of you new to Indian food, this may be a good starting point.

Like most beef stew, you can put almost any kind of vegetable inside, and eat it with almost any absorbent starch (ie - bread, egg noodles, rice). I added extra veggies and liquid to the Silver Palate version, and paired it with Davie Leiberman’s Easy Rice Pilaf (from Young & Hungry). His pilaf recipe is anything but basic because it also has veggies and tumeric. Tumeric gives the dish a bright yellow color - a nice contrast to the drab colored stew- and another subtle Indian flavor.

BEEF STEW WITH CUMIN

1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour1 tsp. salt, plus additional to taste
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus additional to taste
3 pounds beef stew meat(I like to use 7-blade chuck steak, and cut into pieces myself. This is a very tasty cut of meat, and a safer bet than the market’s random meat mix)
¼ cup olive oil
1½ cups dry red wine
2 cups beef stock, or low sodium beef broth
1½ cups canned crushed tomatoes
2 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder (quantity can vary by taste)
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
8-12 white pearl onions, or 6 cippolini onion cut in half through the root
3 large carrots, cut into 1½” pieces on the diagonal
6 red new potatoes, halved
6 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
½ cup chopped fresh Italian fIat-Ieaf parsley, plus additional for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Stir the flour, the 1 tsp. salt and the ½ tsp. pepper together in a shallow bowl. Turn the cubes of stew meat in the flour to coat well, shake off the excess, and transfer to a plate.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the beef cubes, a few at a time, and brown them well on all sides. As they are browned, transfer them to paper towels to drain.

When all the meat is browned, discard any excess oil but do not wash the pot. Add the wine, beef stock, and crushed tomatoes, and set the pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Return the beef to the pot, add the cumin, chili powder, bay leaf and thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot and set it on the center rack of the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and regulating the oven temperature to maintain the stew at a steady simmer.

Meanwhile, soak the pearl onions in hot tap water to facilitate peeling. Peel the onions.

After the stew has been in the oven for about 45 minutes, stir in the onions, carrots and potatoes. Continue to cook the stew. After another 30 minutes, stir in the garlic and the ½ cup parsley. Continue to cook, uncovered, until the stew is reduced and thickened to your liking and the beef is tender, another 15 to 30 minutes. Serve with Easy Rice Pilaf (recipe below) sprinkled with parsley.

Serves 6


Easy Rice Pilaf

8 medium white mushrooms (about 6 ounces)
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium shallot, finely diced (about 1 Tbsp.)
Salt
2 cups long-grain rice
1½ tsp. turmeric
One 14½ ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup frozen peas (baby peas are nice)

¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel. (Washing them under running water makes them soggy.) Pull off the mushroom stems and then cut the mushrooms through the caps into 8 wedges.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. When it starts to foam, add the shallot and cook until the butter starts to brown. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt, and give them a big stir. The mushrooms will soak up all the butter and then start to give off water. Let them cook, stirring often, until they stop giving off water and start to sizzle in the butter and brown, about 8 minutes.

Stir in the rice and cook until it absorbs the butter. Stir in the turmeric and cook until the rice turns bright yellow. Pour in the chicken broth, refill the can with water, and pour that into the pot. Bring the liquid to a boil. Add 1 tsp. of salt and taste. The liquid should be a little salty because the extra salt will season the rice. Add more salt if you think the broth needs it. Bring the broth to a boil and then turn the heat very low so the broth is barely simmering. (It needs to be very low or the rice may burn at the bottom.) Cover the pot and cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Scatter the peas and parsley over the top of the rice, cover the pot, and let stand 5 minutes. The heat from the rice is all you need to cook the peas. Stir the peas and parsley into the rice with a fork, fluffing thee rice as you go.

Serves 6