I'm Still Alive and Still Eating!

And I LOVED the result I got with this recipe for:

MOROCCAN BEEF STEW #3
{it's also posted under my "Recipes" tab above but I don't think anyone ever goes there when I post a new recipe! :) )}

I discovered when I came to my blog to post this, I already had a Moroccan beef stew recipe listed and it mentioned "my first Moroccan stew recipe" so this is my third and perhaps three times really is the charm because this was truly delicious!  No pictures of this one but when I get around to making it again, I will try to remember to post some.  I found this recipe on The Cooking Nook on the web.

Ingredients (I left the full size ingredient list for those of you who feed other than yourselves. :)

2 lbs boneless beef chuck roast (NOTE:  My second recipe called for cut-up chuck roast                                                        also and I think one reason it was SO good is because the                                                      meat wasn't cut up & there were little bones in each rib.)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 - 14 ounce cans beef broth

2 cups onion, chopped

1 - 14 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup dry red wine

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cups golden raisins

For just me, I used two meaty “short” ribs (they seemed kind of long to me) and cut down all the other ingredients, of course.  I don’t think I used even 1 can of beef broth - in fact, I didn’t have beef broth so I either used vegetable broth or bone broth.

I probably chopped up half a medium onion, I didn’t used canned diced tomatoes - I used halved or quartered Campari tomatoes (smaller than tomatoes but bigger than cherry and grape tomatoes).

I sloshed in some red wine with the broth - maybe between the two of them I ended up with a cup or so of liquid.

I combined all the dry seasonings (and I think I divided the measurements in half rather than smaller because I wasn’t sure how much my meat would need).

I didn’t have any golden raisins and thought “what if I ruin the whole thing by adding dark raisins?” so no raisins, but I think they would have been delicious in this dish.  So here’s what you do:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Season the meat with the seasonings first, then brown the meat well in a roasting pan and throw in the onions for a bit. Add the tomato sections next and finally, pour in broth and put in oven. Bake for 3 to 4 hours (I really did and am glad!) but check the liquid level 2 or 3 times. First time I checked it had cooked down quite a bit so I lowered the temp to 300 and added most of the rest of my wine/broth mix.Between this check and my next one would be when to add raisins. The second time I checked, the liquid had cooked all away and there was quite a brown cover in the pan. So I added yet a bit more of wine and broth and on the stove top, heated that up to let the alcohol cook out of the wine and also remove any tomato skins available (altho they had charred a bit so weren’t really worrisome). Then I ate it!! Every last bit. I had one of my small, toasted naan breads as a sopper-upper. It would be good over rice probably and even better over polenta.

Deleting one recipe, adding another

I'm going to delete the Lamb Shank Moroccan Style recipe because I said it it, I will probably never make it again because it was so much trouble.  And I'm replacing it with Moroccan Beef Stew - loosely based on various tagine recipes I've seen and the lamb shank recipe.

A month or more ago, I bought my "last pot roast til fall" chuck roast and when I went to cook it I realized it was way bigger than normal so I cut off a hunk and froze it.  We've been having such chilly weather that yesterday I thought I would defrost it before the weather turns hot.  I remembered that lamb shank and thought I would adapt that to the beef and not just make another pot roast so I did.

It was (she said modestly) very tasty and tonight I'm going to take some of the leftovers and make a "sort of" shepherd's pie I think.  So, actually I won't post this until I've done that and will let you know how that worked out.

I only took a couple of pictures - was having such fun with it I kept forgetting to shoot as I cooked.  But here's the beginning:

And, here's the end.  I was sitting there just chowing down and then thought "oops - better take a picture before it's all gone!"  The meat was nice and tender and the flavor was very, very tasty and an interesting change from my beloved pot roast. :)  This would definitely serve two but I like having leftovers so it's nice for one too.

Update:  The shepherd's pie was quite edible but when I make this stew again, I will make a few changes as outlined in the recipe.

Moroccan Beef Stew

MORROCAN BEEF STEW #3

I found when I came to my blog to post this, I already had a Morrocan beef stew recipe listed and it mentioned "my first Morrocan stew recipe" so this is my third and perhaps three times really is the charm because this was truly delicious!  No pictures of this one but when I get around to making it again, I will try to remember to post some.  I found this recipe on The Cooking Nook on the web.

Ingredients (I left the full size ingredient list for those of you who feed other than yourselves. :)

2 lbs boneless beef chuck roast (I didn’t use this for just me [see NOTE at end])

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 - 14 ounce cans beef broth

2 cups onion, chopped

1 - 14 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup dry red wine

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cups golden raisins

For just me, I used two meaty “short” ribs (they seemed kind of long to me) and cut down all the other ingredients, of course.  I don’t think I used even 1 can of beef broth - in fact, I didn’t have beef broth so I either used vegetable broth or bone broth.

I probably chopped up half a medium onion, I didn’t used canned diced tomatoes - I used halved or quartered Campari tomatoes (smaller than tomatoes but bigger than cherry and grape tomatoes).

I sloshed in some red wine with the broth - maybe between the two of them I ended up with a cup or so of liquid.

I combined all the dry seasonings (and I think I divided the measurements in half rather than smaller because I wasn’t sure how much my meat would need).

I didn’t have any golden raisins and thought “what if I ruin the whole thing by adding dark raisins?” so no raisins, but I think they would have been delicious in this dish.  So here’s what you do:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Season the meat with the seasonings first, then brown the meat well in a roasting pant and throw in the onions for a bit. Toss in the tomato sections Finally, pour in broth and put in oven. Bake for 3 to 4 hours (I really did and am glad!) but check the liquid level 2 or 3 times. First time I checked it had cooked down quite a bit so I lowered the temp to 300 and added most of the rest of my wine/broth mix. Between this check and my next one would be when to add raisins. The second time I checked, the liquid had cooked all away and there was quite a brown cover in the pan. So I added yet a bit more of wine and broth and on the stove top, heated that up to let the alcohol cook out of the wine and also remove any tomato skins available (altho they had charred a bit so weren’t really worrisome). Then I ate it!! Every last bit. I had one of my small, toasted naan breads as a sopper-upper. It would be good over rice probably and even better over polenta.

A NOTE:  My second recipe called for cut-up chuck roast (as does this recipe) and I'm inclined to think one reason this one was SO good is because the meat wasn't cut up and there were little bones in each rib.  And incidentally, the meat absolute shredded apart when I was taking the bones out - it was very tender.