 David Rubel'sWhat's For Dinner?3/28/07
The Beef Filling The Potato Topping 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Combine the beef broth and the dried porcinis in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep. 3. Chop the onion. Slice the carrots (peeling them first if they're not organic). 4. Slice the chuck steak in half along its thickness to create two thinner slabs, each less than one inch thick. Rinse these and pat them dry, then salt and pepper them well. 5. In a large Dutch oven, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Working with one at a time, sear the steaks until well browned, about 4 minutes per side. Set aside. 6. Reduce the heat to medium. (If the bottom of the Dutch oven seems dry, add a little more canola oil.) Saute the prepared onion and carrots with the dried thyme until the carrots soften, about 7-10 minutes. 7. Add the tomato paste and cook for one minute. Then add the flour and cook, stirring often, for another minute. Use the vermouth to deglaze the pot (see tip below). 8. Add the beef-mushroom broth, pouring it through a fine-mesh strainer to catch the pieces of rehydrated mushroom. Chop the larger pieces of mushroom and add these to the pot as well. 9. Cut the seared steaks into bite-sized cubes, discarding any fat or gristle. Add the cubes to the pot, along with any juices that have accumulated. 10.Cover the pot and transfer it to the over. Cook, stirring occasionally until the meat becomes tender, about 45 minutes to an hour. 11. While the stew cooks, peel and chunk the potatoes. Peel and trim the garlic. Place the potatoes and garlic in a large pot and cover with cold water so that they are well submerged. Bring the pot to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes become tender. (A knife should slide through them easily.) Drain. 12. In a suitably large mixing bowl, mash the still-hot potatoes and garlic with the butter, half-and-half, salt, and pepper. 13. When the stew is done, transfer it to one or more Pyrex baking dishes (see tip below). Stir in the frozen vegetables. Top with the mashed-potato mixture. If serving right away, raise the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cook until the stew begins to bubble, about 20 minutes. Otherwise, refrigerate the dish and reheat it later in a 375-degree oven.
Tips * The purpose of using a solvent like alcohol to deglaze a pot is to incorporate the fantastic caramelized flavors residing in all those browned bits stuck to the bottom. That's why, when you're deglazing, you should scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to help the alcohol do its job. * This recipe makes enough to fill a 10x15-inch casserole, but we use two Pyrex loaf pans instead so that we can save half for later without having to reheat it twice. You can also use two 9x9-inch dishes. * There are several different theories of reheating. Some people cover the dish with aluminum foil to retard evaporation, then finish it off under the broiler to crisp the top (which will have become soggy with condensation). I prefer to leave this dish uncovered because the stew is plenty juicy to begin with, and the mashed potatoes keep most of that moisture from evaporating. * The stew is so good on its own that, if you're feeling lazy, just serve it over some egg noodles tossed with a few poppy seeds.
If you have tried one of these recipes and have an improvement or tip or variation to suggest, please e-mail David at dinner@wamc.org. Also feel free to send along your own family cuisine recipes. You can even request dishes that you'd like David to present in the future. David Rubel is president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York. He spends his days writing American history, then heads home after work to cook for his wife and two young children. His most recent book is The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality (DK, 2005). |
