BEEF STEW WITH SWEET AND HOT PAPRIKA

Beef Stew With Sweet and Hot Paprika image

After a tasting session focusing on Priorat wines back in 2005, Florence Fabricant was looking for a meal pairing that could stand up to the wines' heft. She found what she was looking for in a beef stew featured in "Italian Slow and Savory" by Joyce Goldstein. She adapted it by swapping the stew meat for short ribs, and cooking it in a Dutch oven or heavy casserole, but if a tagine is available to you, that also works. "If you use a tagine for the recipe, it must be a large one, about 17 inches in diameter," Florence writes. "For a smaller one, 12 to 14 inches, you can make the dish to serve four, reducing the quantities of ingredients by one-third."

Provided by Florence Fabricant

Time 3h

Yield 6 servings

Number Of Ingredients 12

Ingredients

3 pounds beef stew meat or 4 pounds short ribs with bone, in 2-inch chunks
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons sweet paprika, Spanish or Hungarian
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika or cayenne, or to taste
1 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 cups chopped, seeded canned plum tomatoes, with some juice
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 bay leaf, sprig fresh marjoram and sprig rosemary, tied together

Steps:

Place meat in a bowl, add 1/4 cup oil, 1 tablespoon paprika, salt and pepper. Rub seasonings all over meat. Cover and allow to marinate 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in refrigerator.
Place a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons oil and brown meat on all sides in stages to keep from crowding, adding more oil if needed. Transfer meat to a heavy casserole or a large tagine. Lower heat, add remaining oil and onions and sauté until tender. Add garlic, cumin, hot paprika or cayenne and remaining sweet paprika and sauté a few minutes more. Add wine, simmer briefly, then transfer contents of skillet to casserole with meat.
Add tomatoes, lemon and herbs to meat, and more salt and pepper if needed. Cover casserole and simmer on low heat until meat is tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Adjust seasoning as needed. Remove herb bundle and serve.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 544, UnsaturatedFat 22 grams, Carbohydrate 14 grams, Fat 30 grams, Fiber 4 grams, Protein 51 grams, SaturatedFat 7 grams, Sodium 958 milligrams, Sugar 5 grams, TransFat 1 gram