April Showers

Rainy rainy April. I'm sooooo ready for spring! The upside of it still being cold (getting warmer, I admit, but high 40s is still cold in my book!) is that I still have time to use up some of the stew beef from our last Paidom order before it's too warm for me to want to stew.

Tonight I'm making beef stew for dinner. Its my own recipe, but by happy coincidence it tastes quite similar to one of my favorite tagines at La Maison du Couscous in Brooklyn. If the weather is still cool enough for stew where you live (or maybe if you have a crock pot, I've never really used one of those and am not familiar with their magical powers) I highly recommend you try it out.

1 lb stewing beef, cut into chunks
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 c water
1/2 c Chinese style rice wine for cooking
2 carrots
3 smallish potatoes
1/3 c green olives, chopped
1 preserved lemon, chopped
peas

Salt the beef and brown in your stewing pot with approx 1 T oil. Mine needs two batches. I put it in the upturned pot lid to wait when it's browned. Add more oil to pot if necessary and add onion. Cook until it's softened a bit, then add ginger and turmeric. Cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Return beef to pot, and add water and rice wine. Bring to simmer and cook, covered, about 60 minutes (longer is fine, too). Chop carrots and add them. Cook another 30 min, chop potatoes and add them. Cook until things are nearly tender then add olives and preserved lemon. When everything is tender and lovely add the peas, still frozen. Stir them in, turn off heat, and cover. In about 3 minutes the peas will be defrosted and not overcooked at all. Serve (cilantro and/or parsley are nice, but plain is good, too!).