Estofado is a traditional Spanish beef stew. It is another great meal to have on a cold winter’s day or evening as it will warm you through to your bones. Try it!
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!
