Note: It is important to keep the carrots reasonably large otherwise they will melt into the stew due to long cooking times.

Ingredients

Serves 4 (as a main course)
Total cooking time: About 1 hour and 50 minutes.

3 tablespoons of good quality olive oil
500g stewing beef
250g carrots peeled and cut into large chunks
1 medium/large onion chopped
3 handfuls of fresh (or frozen) peas
3 or 4 chopped tomatoes (skins removed)
1 tablespoon of paprika
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
500g of potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks
1 wineglass of good quality white wine
250ml of beef stock
150ml of water
1 teaspoon of white flour
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
pinch of saffron (for colour)

Extra herbs:

I like thyme but you can use oregano too if you like.

Method:

1. Heat half the oil in a large cooking pot. Cut the meat into cubes if it isn’t already and coat each piece in a little bit of seasoned flour. Add the meat to the hot oil and brown it.
2. In a small frying pan heat the rest of the oil, add the onion and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the flour and the paprika and fry for 5 minutes being careful not to burn the mixture.
3. Add the onion mixture to the meat pot, add the white wine, beef stock and water and bring to the boil. Cook this for about an hour and a half over medium heat.
4. Add the carrots, chopped tomatoes and a little saffron (or a teaspoon of yellow food colouring) to the pot and cook for about 10 minutes.
5. Then peel and add the potatoes, the peas, a little more beef stock if necessary and cook for another 20 -25 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

Serve it with some crusty bread or rice for an even more complete meal.

I like homemade garlic bread with this.

Delicious!

Related posts:

1. Tortilla de Patata Recipe
2. Spanish Lentils Recipe (Lentejas)
3. Gazpacho recipe

This dish below can also be made without the requisite chorizo and serrano ham to make an entirely satisfying vegetarian option.

Ingredients:

• 250 gr. lentils
• 50 gr. chorizo (or a few slices)
• 100 gr. serrano ham
• 1 large onion
• 1 small glass of red wine
• half a small glass of olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 carrots
• 3 small potatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 pinch of saffron (if desired)
• 2 pinches of fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. (Optional step) Soak the lentils for half an hour. Even though small lentils in packets usually don’t need soaking, Spanish women tend to soak them anyway.
2. Cut the ham and chorizo into dice-shaped pieces. Peel and wash the carrots and potatoes. Slice the carrots and dice the potatoes (unless they are very small)
3. Drain the lentils and put them in a saucepan. Add enough water (or vegetable stock) to cover them and add the ham, chorizo, carrots, potatoes, bay leaf, pepper, parsley, a little salt, saffron and wine. (Sometimes add this point I also add a little cumin to give slightly more depth to the dish) Put the pan over a low heat and cover.
4. Slice the onion and garlic and fry, stirring all the time. When soft, add to the other ingredients in the saucepan.
5. Let the lentil stew simmer for at least 30 minutes. Boil off any excess liquid at the end.
6. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Tortilla de Patata Recipe
2. Gazpacho recipe
3. Revolutionary shake up for Spanish Surnames

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

You will need:

(serves 2-4)

1 cup olive oil
four large potatoes (peel and cut into small pieces about 2mm thick)
salt to taste
four large eggs
one large onion, thinly sliced (optional, but I always add it as I love the taste)

1. Heat the oil in a 9-inch skillet, add potato pieces, one slice at a time so that they don’t stick. Alternate layers of potato and onion.
2. Cook slowly, over medium heat. Do not fry or the potatoes will be cooked on the outside but raw in the middle. Turn occasionally until potatoes are tender, but not brown yet. They must be loose, not stuck together.
3. Beat the eggs in a large bowl with a fork.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Drain potatoes.
6. Add potatoes to beaten eggs, pressing them so that eggs cover them completely. Let sit for 15 minutes.
7. Heat 2 tbsps of the oil in large skillet over high heat. Add potato-egg mixture, spreading quickly.
8. Lower the heat to medium-high. Shake the pan to prevent any sticking (essential step!) When the potatoes start to brown but the egg on top is still runny and uncooked, put a plate on top of the skillet and flip to cook the other side. At this point add another tbsp of oil.
9. Brown the tortilla on the other side. You can flip it three or four times to give it a nice uniform golden brown colour.

Serve hot or cold, it’s delicious either way. I tend to prefer hot, with a slice of french bread. Mmmmmmmmm.

Related posts:

1. Gazpacho recipe

Peel the tomatoes, cut the tomatoes peel in a cross shape and put them inside boiling water for a minute. Blanch them. Get them out and peel them off. Cut the tomatoes in quarters and remove the pits. Peel the cucumber and cut it into dices. Peel the onion and cut it in thin pieces. Chop the garlick and if it smells too much just cover it up and hide it in the fridge or freezer and you will have none of such fragrances in the house. Peel and cut the peppers in slices. Inside a bowl, cut the crumbs of bread into pieces and mix them up with the olive oil and the vinegar. Pour inside a bowl all the vegetables and add the bread together with the vinegar and the olive oil. Mix up until having an homogeneous mixture. Put this mixture inside a recipient and remove the liquid. Add salt and black pepper. Put it inside the fridge for one hour before serving. Serve the Gazpacho very fresh with desired garnishes (serran ham, chopped onion, chopped hard-cooked egg and/or chopped green pepper). If you like, you can add it more olive oil, spring onion and pepper.

This recipe comes from spanishflavours.com

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