Greek Style Beef Stew скачать в хорошем качестве

Greek Style Beef Stew

A one-pot comforting stew made with seared beef chuck, whole shallots, and onions, slow-cooked to tender perfection. The secret lies in browning the meat and sweating the onions to enhance deep, meaty flavours. Anchovy puree and star anise add an extra layer of umami and warmth, while a finishing touch of lemon zest provides a bright, fresh contrast. This hearty Greek-style stew is perfect for family-style serving and makes a richly flavoured meal in just three hours. I used beef chuck in this recipe, but of course you can use any braising joint. Because the flavours here are quite clean, I prefer relatively leaner cuts such as chuck or ox cheek. Short ribs or oxtail, in my opinion, benefit from bolder flavouring to balance their richness and meatiness. Searing the meat at the beginning is an essential step in building depth of flavour. Browning — the layman’s term for the Maillard reaction — is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives food its distinctive savoury character. Without it, we might as well boil everything from the start. For that reason, I like to keep the meat chunky early on to maximise browning. If you start with diced meat, it releases too much moisture into the pot, making proper browning much harder to achieve. The whole shallots are essential to this dish. As they cook, they slowly soften and fall apart, releasing a huge amount of flavour into the stew. They’re also incredibly good to eat at the end. Since this is my own variation, I took the liberty of adding two extra ingredients: star anise for added complexity — it works beautifully with both onion and meat — and salted anchovy purée for extra umami. Anchovy purée has become a go-to in my braising dishes, as it adds depth and savouriness without any detectable fishiness. If you’re sceptical, consider that many Japanese beef stews are cooked with dashi, often made from dried bonito, yet you’d never identify a fish flavour in the finished dish. As always, my approach to herbs in stews is simple: use what you have. There’s no point buying five different herbs only to use a single sprig of each, unless you grow them yourself. The one exception for me is bay leaf, as it keeps for months in the fridge and earns its place every time. ⸻ Ingredients • Beef chuck – about 1 kg, cut into very chunky pieces (steak-sized) • Shallots – about 5, whole and peeled • Onion – 1, diced • Garlic – about 3 cloves, minced • Lemon – 1 • Star anise – about 3 • Bay leaves – about 3 • Salted anchovy purée – about 70 g • Vegetable oil (or any neutral oil with a high smoke point) • Soy sauce • Chicken stock (homemade or shop-bought) • Salt • Black pepper ⸻ Directions 1. Add a thin layer of vegetable oil to a cast-iron pot over medium-high heat (induction 7.5). Once the oil is shimmering, season the beef generously with salt and black pepper and add it in a single layer. Sear in batches if necessary. 2. Once the beef is well browned, remove it from the pot and set aside. Add the whole shallots and brown them in the rendered fat. 3. When the shallots are nicely coloured, add the diced onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook until translucent, then add the garlic and cook for a further minute. 4. Stir in the salted anchovy purée, then add the star anise and bay leaves. 5. Slice the seared beef into chunky pieces and return it to the pot. 6. Add a small dash of lemon juice. You can also use a splash of white wine at this stage if you’d like to introduce a little extra acidity and freshness. 7. Add just enough chicken stock to cover most of the ingredients. 8. Add a dash of soy sauce and mix well. 9. Reduce the heat to medium-low (induction 3.5), cover with a lid, and cook gently for about 3 hours. 10. After cooking, skim off most of the surface fat, add the lemon zest, and serve hot, ideally family-style in the middle of the table. ____ Follow us on Instagram:   / w2kitchn   #W2Kitchen #beefstew #greekrecipes