STAY IN THE KNOW

Our latest organic basket came with some potatoes, onions, and carrots so I thought that it would be a good idea to make a good old-fashion beef stew. This is the first thing that I learned how to cook (three years ago), and I was very excited about cooking it for the new interns considering none of them had ever tried my food. As always, I tried to incorporate some Panamanian flavors by adding culantro (which you all know I can’t live without) as one of the seasoning herbs. The key to creating a successful beef stew is to make the meat very tender. The best way to do this is to cook the meat slowly, so make sure you are NOT hungry when you start cooking your stew.

Beef Stew

Ingredients
• 3 medium Idaho potatoes (roughly chopped)
• 2 medium onions (roughly chopped)
• 2 carrots (roughly chopped)
• 2 pounds of stew meat
• 4 cups of beef stock
• 2 cups cooking red wine
• 4 garlic cloves
• ½ cup of oregano
• ½ cup of basil
• 3 tablespoons of garlic powder
• 1 cup of culantro
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 cup of flour
• Salt & pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Aluminum foil

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Preheat a skillet on low heat, put enough EVOO to cover the surface and drop 2 garlic cloves in the skillet.
3. Season the meat with salt and pepper to taste and brown it in the skillet. Set it aside for later.
4. In the same skillet add ½ onion and garlic, and let them sweat for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the flour and the red wine to the skillet, and deglaze the bottom of your skillet. You are basically going to scratch the bottom of your pan (preferably with a wooden spoon) to get all those tasty brown spot that the meat left when you browned it.
6. Bring that sauce to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer and let it cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.
7. While the sauce its cooking, put the meat, potatoes, onions, carrots, oregano, basil, bay leaves, culantro and the garlic powder in a Pyrex. Pour your sauce and the beef stock and give it a stir.
8. Cover the Pyrex with aluminum foil. Make sure it’s well sealed. This is crucial for the meat be tender. Put in the oven and let it cook for 4 hours or until tender.