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Recipe: Rainy Day Stew
By estar | March 11, 2007
Found a month-old chunk of shin beef lying in the freezer a couple of days ago, and in true Singaporean style, I thought, “Wah…better not waste”. So when the weekend rolled by, Daniel and I concocted this stew with the sole purpose of using up old beef! Best eaten on rainy days when all you want to do is curl up on the couch and laze, we have, very imaginatively I might add, named it ‘Rainy Day Stew’.
Shin beef is a cheaper cut that has, quite frankly, a lot of connective tissue. But this is easily taken care of during the long stewing process, which literally melts the beef down into a tender mouthful. The upside of using shin is the depth of flavour that comes from the cow working its leg muscles.
This stew uses only red wine as its base, so it’s imperative to get a wine you would actually drink, not some cheap substitute like those bottles of ‘Cooking red wine’ you find in supermarkets.
Remember: Bad tasting wine = Bad tasting stew.
Rainy Day Stew (Serves 4)
Ingredients
400g shin beef, cubed
2 Italian sausages. cut into 2cm pieces
1 onion, chopped roughly
2 medium carrots, cut in large chunks
1 stick celery, sliced
200g fresh white button mushrooms
10 cherry tomatoes
½ bottle of red wine
1 can tomato sauce (Note: Ketchup does NOT work)
Olive oil, for frying
Seasoning
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp sour cream
Pinch of cayenne pepper (Optional - but it gives a kick-ass bite)
Cracked black pepper
Salt
Directions
1. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to a non-stick pot over a medium high heat.
2. Fry the beef in the pot, making sure all sides are seared (ie. brown). This stops the beef juices from leaking out into the stew and leaving you with beef jerky. Don’t worry if bits start to stick to the base. Once seared on all sides, remove and set aside.
3. Fry the sausages in the same manner. Remove and set aside.
4. Turn the fire down low and add the onion and 2 tbsp of water. Scrap the brown bits off the base of the pot (Yes -you want the bits- they’re full of flavour!) Cook for 10min.
5. Add the carrots, celery and mushrooms and cook for a further 10min. Season with paprika, mixed herbs and cayenne, if using.
6. Pour in the wine and tomato sauce. Once the stew starts to bubble at the edges, add the beef and sausages. (It will look watery at this stage). Cover and let simmer for 45min.
7. At the end of this time, the stew will have reduced. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Stir in the mustard and sour cream, top with cherry tomatoes and it’s ready to serve!
We served the stew with a side of Pumpkin and Potato Mash.
March 13th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Looks yum!
March 17th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Hi Marina,
This site is not actually ready for public consumption yet (it needs more content), but you’re certainly welcome!
Over the next few weeks Esther and I will be putting up more reviews and recipes to make it ready!