Spring beef stew
Ragu di primavera
A slow-cooked, spring beef stew is like a cooked meat salad, where you combine all the good vegetables and bright colours that are in season this time of year. The result is gaudy, appetizing and bursting with nourishing vitamins. In this case I had come across fresh pointed cabbage in a nice red or purple colour, but ordinary green or white cabbage can be used instead.
Ingredients
500 g diced beef
5 laurel leaves
1 kg potatoes
4 carrots
5 spring onions
½ pointed cabbage
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 dl milk or coffee cream
Fresh chives, salt and pepper
Preparation
Put the beef in a casserole, cover with water and bring it to the boil
Remove the scum, add laurel leaves and salt and leave the beef to boil under lid for 1-2 hours until very tender.
Clean, peel and dice the vegetables to approximately the same size as the beef.
Remove the beef from the casserole and blanch the vegetables starting with potatoes (10 minutes), carrots (6 minutes), spring onion and cabbage (1 minute)
Pass the soup through a sieve and save for later
Melt butter in a pan and stir in flour to the thick paste
Gradually mix with cream and soup gradually until you have a nice white sauce
Add salt and pepper to taste before transferring vegetables and meat to the sauce.
Heat the spring beef stew through and shower with chives before serving.
Other comfy meat stews
Italian cod recipe from Trieste
Spring beef stew it slow-cooked meat accompanied by all the vegetables in season.
I am trying a variation of this recipe tonight. Hadn’t planned to so haven’t got chives, cabbage or cream! Have added rosemary and celery to the boiling beef and will add garden grown broad beans and peas. I’ll let you know how I get on!
That’s the way to do it. You take a recipe and mix it with the ingredients at hand and lots of improvisation.