This Provençal beef Daube stew with celeriac mash will be your favourite winter warmer. This post is sponsored by Waitrose.
I grew up Greece with a mother as obsessed with cooking and food as I am now. She was (and is) a fantastic home cook able to whip up an impressive dinner out of whatever was seasonally available.
But rather than stick to the many wonderful traditional Greek recipes, she had a library full of cookbooks from all over the world and would take inspiration from French, American and English recipes.
ThisProvençal Beef Daubewas a regular feature during the Autumn months, a wonderfully warming stew full of flavour.
I have carried on the tradition of cooking food from all over the world, mixing up flavours and stealing ideas from cookbooks in magpie like fashion.
This stew has not changed much since my childhood however, except I add whatever vegetables I have to hand.
The one essential in this recipe is prunes – they add a real depth of flavour and sweetness to the dish. I also threw in chestnuts, parsnips and a little apple and serve it with celeriac mash.
Celeriac is a bit of an ugly beast, but it makes a velvety mash that’s got a lot more character, and fewer calories, than potatoes.
I guarantee this is a dish you will fall in love with and make again and again.
Like most stews, all the hard work is done by your oven while you sit back with a glass of red wine and enjoy the wonderful fragrance of the stew…
I am positive this can be made in a slow cooker as well – will make sure to update the recipe once I test it out in mine.
Put the flour on a large plate and season liberally with salt and pepper. Toss the beef cubes in the flour until they are lightly coated.
Add a good splash of oil in a large casserole dish and brown the beef cubes over medium high heat. Don't crowd the beef in the pan as it will steam rather than brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Add a splash of stock to the pan and scrape any sticky flour/beef bits with a wooden spoon.
Add the chopped shallots, and a splash more oil if needed, and cook for 4-5 minutes.
Add the prunes, carrots, parsnips, garlic, apple, chestnuts and bay leaves and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, adding stock if the pan is dry.
Stir in the tomato paste, vinegar and orange peel. Add the beef and pour in the stock and wine.
Bring to the boil, cover the casserole and put in the oven for 1 1/2 –2 hours.
Remove from the oven, check the seasoning and remove the bay leaves.
While the stew is cooking, make the mash. Put the celeriac, parsnip and garlic in a pot, and pour in enough water to cover the vegetables.
Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through.
Drain and put the vegetables in a Vitamix or food processor together with the butter and a good glug of double cream. Blitz until smooth, adding a little more cream if the mash is too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Divide the mash between your plates and top with the stew. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
Daube is a classic stew hailing from the Provence region of France. Meat is slowly braised in wine and flavored with spices and herbs until it's meltingly tender.
There are flavors in tomatoes that are alcohol-soluble, so adding red wine along with tomato paste also helps to enhance beef stew." Laurence has a few other tricks I've borrowed to create the best beef stew, including adding Worcestershire, which gets a serious umami punch from anchovies.
The main differences: Bourguignon is made with a red wine from the Burgundy (Bourgogne) region. Daube is a southern dish, from provence/languedoc, and would typically be made with a richer red (occasionally, and originally, white) wine from that region.
Irish stew (Irish: Stobhach Gaelach) or Stobhach is a stew native to Ireland that is traditionally made with root vegetables and lamb or mutton, but also commonly with beef. As in all traditional folk dishes, the exact recipe is not consistent from time to time, or place to place.
The long, slow cook time leaves lean meat, like sirloin, tough and chewy, while tougher cuts, like chuck, break down and become really tender. Follow this tip: When choosing the best meat for beef stew, stick with using chuck meat.
Add spices such as turmeric, coriander and cumin at the early stage of cooking, when you are frying onions and garlic, to enhance the taste of the beef stew. Fresh herbs like coriander and bay leaves also contribute a distinct flavour without making the dish too spicy for the younger members of the family.
Once the meat is tender - but not falling apart, add the potatoes, celery, carrots and butternut squash. Pour over another 2 cups of beef broth and enough water to cover the vegetables. Raise heat and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer partially covered for about 30 minutes - until the vegetables are tender.
(side note) Some of the flavor of the stew liquid is from those vegetables, especially the celery and carrots. You'll probably want to cook some with the meat, even if you discard (or puree) them.
For a rich, succulent stew, resist the instinct to buy the gorgeously marbled piece of meat you would want for a steak or roast. Look instead for cuts with cartilage, tendons and (at least a few) bones: Chuck, brisket, oxtails, cheeks and shin are ideal.
Carrots are a go-to for stews and braises, but look beyond them to parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, celeriac, and sweet potatoes. Be sure cut them on the larger size so they don't dissolve into mush.
The origin of Vietnamese beef stew, or bo kho, can be traced back to many years ago. Originating in Southern Vietnam, it is now famous in all the three regions of the country, where it has come to be as much an iconic dining experience as it is a national favorite.
It began in the south of France. Daube (pronounced “dobe”) grew up in the Occitan, which cuts a wide swath across the entire southern part of the country. But it was in Provence that the dish attained its sunniest, most aromatic expression.
The world's oldest known evidence of stew was found in Japan, dating to the Jōmon period. Amazonian tribes used the shells of turtles as vessels, boiling the entrails of the turtle and various other ingredients in them.
The best (and least expensive) beef stew meat comes from the front shoulder, also known as the chuck. The rear muscle (also called the round) would definitely make a great stew, but we like chuck better because it has more connective tissue.
Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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