Catalan Style Beef Stew with Mushrooms
Modified from: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/6764-catalan-style-beef-stew-with-mushrooms#
Serves 4 to 6
Remove the woody base of the oyster mushroom stem before cooking. An equal amount of quartered button mushrooms may be substituted for the oyster mushrooms. Serve the stew with boiled or mashed potatoes or rice.
Ingredients
STEW
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt and pepper
2 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, pulp grated on large holes of box grater, and skins discarded
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 1/2 cups water (OR LET’S TRY IT WITH BEEF STOCK NEXT TIME)
1 large sprig fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 pounds boneless beef short ribs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
PICADA
1/4 cup whole blanched almonds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 slice hearty white sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/2 pound oyster mushrooms, trimmed
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
Directions
FOR THE STEW:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-low heat until shimmering.
Add 2 large onions, chopped fine, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, and ½ teaspoon salt; cook, stirring often, until onions are deeply caramelized, 30 to 40 minutes.
Grate the tomatoes, discard skins, set aside. Do this towards the end of the onion caramelization.
Add tomatoes, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, and bay leaf; cook, stirring often, until darkened and thick, 5 to 10 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 cups dry white wine, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 sprig thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to pot, scraping up any browned bits.
Cut up beef into 1 inch cubes and season beef with 1½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper and add to pot.
Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered.
After 1 hour stir stew to redistribute meat, return to oven, and continue to cook uncovered until meat is tender, 1½ to 2 hours longer.
FOR THE PICADA:
Prepare the picada when the stew is finished but still in the oven.
Heat 1/4 cup whole blanched almonds and 1 tablespoon oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat; cook, stirring often, until almonds are golden brown, 3 to 6 minutes.
Using slotted spoon, transfer almonds to food processor.
Return skillet to medium heat (there’s remaining oil in there and that’s ideal), add 1 slice hearty white sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into 1-inch pieces, and cook, stirring often, until toasted, 2 to 4 minutes; transfer to food processor with almonds.
Add 2 garlic cloves, peeled, to the food processor and process until mixture is finely ground, about 20 seconds, scraping bowl as needed.
Transfer mixture to bowl, stir in 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, and set aside.
Return now-empty skillet to medium heat. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil until shimmering.
Add 1/2 pound oyster mushrooms, trimmed, and ½ teaspoon salt; cook, stirring often, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
Transfer to bowl and set aside.
Take stew from the oven
Remove bay leaf and thyme (if you can find the thyme, it may have disintegrated)
Stir picada, mushrooms, and 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar into stew. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes:
One of the things you might notice about this recipe is that you do not brown the meat. Because you cook it uncovered, the meat bobs to the top and browns in the oven. That’s why you need to stir it every hour. On the subject of the meat, the boneless short-ribs were wonderful. In the original recipe it calls for 2-inch pieces. We’ve found that to be too big and adjusted it to 1 inch pieces. It took nearly twice as long the first time because the pieces were too big. 1 inch pieces will allow it to cook faster and result in more tender meat.
The hardest/most tedious part of this recipe is the caramelization of the onions. You need those suckers very caramelized and you need to stand there and stir it for like 40 minutes. The onions should be nearly black, like you would see in french onion soup.
Sherry vinegar would be nice, I think the flavor would be richer, but we didn’t have any. We used home-made white wine vinegar and that was fine. I think it would be missing something if you didn’t add the vinegar at the end. It added a brightness you need.
We found that it needed to be adjusted with salt and pepper when it was completed. Be sure to use the entire teaspoon and a half of salt when seasoning the short ribs, I think that’s where our shortfall may have come salt-wise.
We couldn’t find blanched almonds or raw ones to blanche, so we used slivered almonds. Worked fine. YMMV.
We used one pound of white mushrooms, I think portabella would taste better, give it more mushroom kick, as oyster are kind of hard to find.
The stew was better the next day. It needed to be loosened up a little bit with some liquid. I suggest a little beef or chicken stock, but white wine or even water would do it. You won’t need much to loosen the leftovers.
We had ours with buttered mashed potatoes on the side, not mixed in. I think it doesn’t need to be mixed, it is very flavorful the way it is.
Serves 4 to 6
Remove the woody base of the oyster mushroom stem before cooking. An equal amount of quartered button mushrooms may be substituted for the oyster mushrooms. Serve the stew with boiled or mashed potatoes or rice.
Ingredients
STEW
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt and pepper
2 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, pulp grated on large holes of box grater, and skins discarded
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 1/2 cups water (OR LET’S TRY IT WITH BEEF STOCK NEXT TIME)
1 large sprig fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 pounds boneless beef short ribs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
PICADA
1/4 cup whole blanched almonds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 slice hearty white sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/2 pound oyster mushrooms, trimmed
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
Directions
FOR THE STEW:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-low heat until shimmering.
Add 2 large onions, chopped fine, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, and ½ teaspoon salt; cook, stirring often, until onions are deeply caramelized, 30 to 40 minutes.
Grate the tomatoes, discard skins, set aside. Do this towards the end of the onion caramelization.
Add tomatoes, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, and bay leaf; cook, stirring often, until darkened and thick, 5 to 10 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 cups dry white wine, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 sprig thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to pot, scraping up any browned bits.
Cut up beef into 1 inch cubes and season beef with 1½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper and add to pot.
Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered.
After 1 hour stir stew to redistribute meat, return to oven, and continue to cook uncovered until meat is tender, 1½ to 2 hours longer.
FOR THE PICADA:
Prepare the picada when the stew is finished but still in the oven.
Heat 1/4 cup whole blanched almonds and 1 tablespoon oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat; cook, stirring often, until almonds are golden brown, 3 to 6 minutes.
Using slotted spoon, transfer almonds to food processor.
Return skillet to medium heat (there’s remaining oil in there and that’s ideal), add 1 slice hearty white sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into 1-inch pieces, and cook, stirring often, until toasted, 2 to 4 minutes; transfer to food processor with almonds.
Add 2 garlic cloves, peeled, to the food processor and process until mixture is finely ground, about 20 seconds, scraping bowl as needed.
Transfer mixture to bowl, stir in 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, and set aside.
Return now-empty skillet to medium heat. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil until shimmering.
Add 1/2 pound oyster mushrooms, trimmed, and ½ teaspoon salt; cook, stirring often, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
Transfer to bowl and set aside.
Take stew from the oven
Remove bay leaf and thyme (if you can find the thyme, it may have disintegrated)
Stir picada, mushrooms, and 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar into stew. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes:
One of the things you might notice about this recipe is that you do not brown the meat. Because you cook it uncovered, the meat bobs to the top and browns in the oven. That’s why you need to stir it every hour. On the subject of the meat, the boneless short-ribs were wonderful. In the original recipe it calls for 2-inch pieces. We’ve found that to be too big and adjusted it to 1 inch pieces. It took nearly twice as long the first time because the pieces were too big. 1 inch pieces will allow it to cook faster and result in more tender meat.
The hardest/most tedious part of this recipe is the caramelization of the onions. You need those suckers very caramelized and you need to stand there and stir it for like 40 minutes. The onions should be nearly black, like you would see in french onion soup.
Sherry vinegar would be nice, I think the flavor would be richer, but we didn’t have any. We used home-made white wine vinegar and that was fine. I think it would be missing something if you didn’t add the vinegar at the end. It added a brightness you need.
We found that it needed to be adjusted with salt and pepper when it was completed. Be sure to use the entire teaspoon and a half of salt when seasoning the short ribs, I think that’s where our shortfall may have come salt-wise.
We couldn’t find blanched almonds or raw ones to blanche, so we used slivered almonds. Worked fine. YMMV.
We used one pound of white mushrooms, I think portabella would taste better, give it more mushroom kick, as oyster are kind of hard to find.
The stew was better the next day. It needed to be loosened up a little bit with some liquid. I suggest a little beef or chicken stock, but white wine or even water would do it. You won’t need much to loosen the leftovers.
We had ours with buttered mashed potatoes on the side, not mixed in. I think it doesn’t need to be mixed, it is very flavorful the way it is.
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