One of my favorites for winter is stew and there are so many different ways to make it.
Here are some international recipes. Just pick up special bread, make a great salad and everyone will be delighted.
Italian Beef Stew
6 servings
When I make a dish and it’s one I want to repeat often, I attach a blue tab to the card. This one has that tab and came from a newspaper many years ago and was adapted to kashrut.
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup pareve margarine
- 1 medium chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2½ pounds stew meat, cut into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley
- ½ teaspoon basil
- 1 large red pepper, cut into strips
- 1 large green pepper, cut into strips
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 4 teaspoons beef soup powder
- 4 cups water
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat oil and margarine. Sauté onion and garlic until light golden.
- Add beef, parsley and basil and cook 20 minutes. Add peppers and cook 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, beef soup powder, water and paprika. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook 20-25 minutes.
Sweet and Sour Beef or Veal Stew
4-6 servings
This has no origin listed, but instead of a tab, I have 3 stars.
- 1 pound beef or veal stew meat pieces
- 1 teaspoon sherry
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- oil
- 2 chopped carrots
- mushrooms
- 3 cups chopped onions
- ½ sliced cucumber
- 1 minced garlic clove
- Sauce
- 5 tablespoons oil
- 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ¼ cup cider vinegar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- Sprinkle meat with sherry. In a bowl, beat egg with flour and cornstarch. Coat meat with batter.
- Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry meat until brown. Set aside. Add vegetables to frying pan and fry a few moments. Return meat to frying pan.
- In a bowl, mix cornstarch, water, ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar. Pour over meat and vegetables and cook over low heat until sauce is thick.
Beef Stew Provencal
8 servings
Provence is a region in southeast France and the food is characterized by garlic, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, olive oil and herbs. This was in my file from an old food magazine.
- 3 pounds cubed stew meat
- ⅓ cup flour
- ¼ cup margarine
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 small onions
- 1 crushed garlic clove
- 1 cup chopped leek or shallots
- 1½ t. dry thyme
- 2 crushed bay leaves
- 3 cups canned tomatoes
- 2 beef bouillon cubes
- 1½ cups dry red wine
- strip orange peel, 1 inch by 3 inches long
- 8 small potatoes
- 4 zucchini cut into slices
- 12 pitted green olives
- 1½ cups minced celery
- chopped parsley
- Coat meat with flour. Save the rest. Heat margarine and oil in Dutch oven and sauté meat for 30 minutes. Remove.
- Sauté onions 5 minutes and remove. Sauté garlic, leek, thyme and bay leaves 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, bouillon cubes, wine, meat and orange peel. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 80 minutes. Add potatoes and sautéed onions and cook 40 minutes. Add zucchini and olives and celery and cook until tender.
- Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine reserved flour with ¼ cup water and stir into stew. Simmer until mixture thickens. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with French bread.
Sybil Kaplan, who passed away in September, a Jerusalem-based journalist, author and compiler/editor of nine kosher cookbooks. She was a food writer for North American Jewish publications, and she led walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.
