My grandmother, Irene, often prepared stewed meat. It was very common to find goulash or stew for lunch, even in the height of summer, cooked with large touches of potatoes and carrots.
She cooked everything together in a ceramic pot – I prefer a cast iron pot.
Granny Irene old fashion stew
- Preparation time: 200 minutes
- Ingredients for 4 servings
- Difficulty: Easy recipe
- Ingredients
- 500 g or 1 lb of beef muscle cut into pieces
- Flour as needed
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 stick of celery
- 1/4 glass of white wine
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 2 large potatoes
- 2 carrots
- Extra virgin olive oil to taste
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Instructions
- In a cast iron pan, stew chopped onion, carrot, and celery with oil over a low heat for about ten minutes until the vegetables have softened.
- Cut the meat into small pieces and lightly flour it.
- Raise the heat under the pan and brown the meat batches for a few minutes. Pour in the wine, then let all the alcohol evaporate.
- Add the tomato paste and a generous cup of water; cook over a very low heat for about two hours.
- Wash, peel, and cut the potatoes into cubes, then the carrots into thick slices. Together with the thyme, add them to the meat and cook for about another hour.
- Season with salt and pepper.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- For a gentle and uniform heat, I use a flame spreader for stoves. It costs very little and is very useful.
- Muscle is a very flavorful cut of meat, but full of collagen. To make it melt, you need a slow and sweet cooking at around 167° F; only in this way does the meat become very tender.
- Always add salt and pepper at the end of cooking, especially if the cooking time is long.
Granny Irene with her sister Lea
