FLEMISH STEW
I didn’t have enough time so I used a pressure cooker today and it turned out very nicely! I served this with pommes au four, and steamed potatoes. Mmjamm.
For 4 people
Ingredients:
- 800 kg of beef (the goulash type of meat, not edible unless you cook it for a long time)
- two large onions (chopped)
- 1 shallot (chopped)
- 1 carrot (chopped)
- 2 garlic gloves: the inner core removed if you have dried gloves, if you have fresh gloves you can leave them in. Then mince.
- beer (about a half liter), you can use any kind of beer, as long it isn’t sweet
- 2 glasses of dry red wine
- enough beef stock to just cover the meat
- 100 gr clarified butter
- a tablespoon of oil to add to the butter to prevent it from burning if you don’t have enough time to clarify your butter (when butter has been clarified, this shouldn’t be necessary)
- a bouquet garnier ( I use 2 bushes of thyme, 2 bay leaves and 1 stem of parsley and a perhaps a green leave of leek if you have it)
- 2 slices of wheat bread
- 2 tablespoons of mustard (Moutarde de Dyon)
- a pinch of allspice
- a pinch of cloves
- 5 juniper berries (crushed)
- salt and pepper
Ok. Let’s get to work!
1. Trim the meat. Get rid of all the tendons, fat, and so on. Then cut it into 5cm cubes and put them into two sheets of paper towel so they will be very well dried before frying them.
2. Pour the clarified butter (if you use unclarified butter add a table spoon of oil into your pressure cooker. And heat until it is at the right temperature (butter should foam). The best way (for me) to find out when the fat is ready to fry the meat, is by dipping a tip of the beef into the hot fat, if it sizzles, it’s hot enough. Of course you can use your finger too. 
4. Dry your cubes of meat with the paper towel before you fry them. Don’t crowd them, but rather let them savor themselves getting a crust on all sides. They enjoy it more when you fry them in batches. If you crowd them to much in one pan, they will release their juices and you will end up boiling them instead of frying them. Better to take it slowly. When one batch is done, you remove them from the pan, without pricking, to a platter, and then continue frying the other ones.
5. While the meat is frying, you start to cut up the onions, garlic and carrot.
6. Once all the meat is cooked, add a bit of more butter to the pan. Let it foam and add the onions and garlic. Let simmer until the onions are glazy.
7. Add the carrots and let simmer until they are a bit soft.
8. Add the meat cubes.
9. Wash your bouquet garni and add.
10. Add salt and pepper, together with a pinch of allspice, a pinch of cloves, and the juniper peppers.
11. Smear the mustard over two slices of bread. (1 tablespoon per slice)
12. Pour the beer, wine and enough beef stock over them until they’re just covered. (Some tips of meat are still surfacing).
13. With a wooden spoon mix everything together.
14. Close the pressure cooker and let it cook for about 45 minutes.
Et voila!
Popularity: 6% [?]
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Gaby,
Your recipes all sound delicious! Can the Flemish Stew be prepared in a crock pot (slow cooker that cooks for several hours at a lower temperature) instead of a pressure cooker? If so, what cooking temperature would you suggest — and how long to cook it?
Also, I would love to see the recipe for the mozzarella salad that you mentioned yesterday with your home made pasta.
The new Miele look beautiful!
Hi Mary Ann,
Of course you can prepare the Flemish Stew in a crock pot or in the oven! It’s much better than in a pressure cooker. The temperature should be at around 350F.
I’ve just added the recipe for the mozzarella salad to the site.
Tomorrow, we’re going to pick up our Miele. I’m very excited
{ 2 trackbacks }