This dish is based on a Moroccan Beef and dried fruit stew, I’ve made a few adjustments to create my own Spanish, Italian Moroccan influenced stew. I’ve added a good red wine, I used an organic merlot from Italy, whole tomatoes instead of just a paste and then Spanish chorizo and paprika, I have left out some of the spices normally put in the Moroccan dish, but I did add some red chili to add some heat.
Spicy Beef Stew with Prunes, Chorizo
Serves 4
Ingredients
– 1kgs Grass fed Beef Shin cubes
– 2tbsp flour
– 2 sprigs thyme
– 2 medium onions, finely chopped
– 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
– 200gms chorizo, roughly chopped
– 1 can cherry tomatoes
– 150gms pitted prunes, roughly chopped
– 3 bay leaf
– 5 table spoons olive oil
– 2 red chili
– 1tsp smoked paprika
– 300mls good red wine
– fresh chopped parsley
– 150gms pitted prunes, roughly chopped
– 2 strips lemon peel
Start by preheating the oven to 120°c. Then in a heavy based pan, heat the olive oil, add the chorizo to this and allow it to start to cook, abut 2 minutes. Then add the onions and chopped garlic to this and allow it to cook until it begins to soften and the chorizo has started to lose its sunset tinged oil and paprika flavour. Cook until the onions are completely softened and the chorizo has crisped around the edges. Remove the onion and chorizo mix from the pan using a slotted spoon, allow as much oil as possible to remain.
Dust your beef shin chunks with the seasoned flour mixture, before frying them till nicely browned and crisped. Don’t overload the pan, cook the meat in two or three seperate batches. Once the last batch is browned add all the meat back to the pan with the onion and chorizo mixture. Now add the red wine to the pot, use the red wine to loosen any sticky bits from the bottom of the pan. Once the bits are all loosened add the canned tomatoes to the mixture and allow it to come to the boil. Now add the bay leaf, thyme, chili, paprika and pitted dates to the pot and bring to the boil.
Transfer the mixture to an oven proof dish, and put the stew into the oven in the middle rack with a tight fitting lid and cook for 90-minutes, stirring every 30-minutes. Serve with hot polenta or mash.