Brazilian Beef Stew Recipe

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Brazilian Beef Stew Recipe

Posted by G. Stephen Jones on Monday, 04 June 2012 18:33

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Brazilian Beef Stew Recipe

Last weekend we fired up our outdoor wood-burning oven for a party where we cooked 26 pizzas for a bunch of friends. I love cooking in the oven but it takes about 1 ½ hours to get the temperature up to the 700°F to 800°F necessary for proper cooking. Once hot, the oven walls absorb a lot of the heat and will stay warm all night at about 250°F, perfect for slow cooking something in a Dutch oven.

So whenever I fire up the oven for pizza, I try to prepare something like this Brazilian beef stew (also called Feijoada) earlier in the day and stick it in the oven after we are done making pizza and it has cooled down some. You don't need a wood-burning oven to prepare this Brazilian Stew. In fact, the recipe calls for a slow cooker (crock pot) but a Dutch Oven works fine too and should take a little less time.

Kielbasa

I'm going to say it right up front; in my opinion the kielbasa makes this dish special. The beef is good but I thought it was a little dry and that could be because of the length of time I cooked it or the cut of meat I used but the kielbasa was fantastic. Tender, melt in your mouth kind of good. I would suggest increasing the amount of kielbasa you use. I will next time.

I also switched some of the black beans for cannellini beans. Not sure why but I love the flavor and texture of cannellini beans. I did, however, puree a can of black beans as the recipe suggests. Not only did the black beans add flavor, they thickened the stew.

I doubled up on this recipe because I started with 2 pounds of stew meat in the freezer and the recipe only called for 1 pound. I'm going to post the amounts listed in the magazine article that serves 6 but then again, that depends on who the 6 people are.

When I pulled the stew out of the oven on Sunday morning, it smelled so good I had to have a small bowl just to make sure it tasted OK. It did and later I found out when I was out on bagel run, my wife had the same idea.

For dinner, we served the stew over rice - half white/ half brown. The kids must have enjoyed it, they both asked to have it for school lunch on Monday. CuisineAtHome suggests serving traditional rice and collard greens on the side but I don't think I can get my kids to eat collards just yet. Soon I hope.

Brazilian Beef Stew Recipe

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 6.5 hrs

Total Time: 7 hrs

Servings: 6 cups

Adapted from CuisineAtHome February 2012

Ingredients:

1-pound beef stew meat salt & pepper, to taste
1-tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound kielbasa, sliced into ½ rounds
¼ cup orange juice
1 ½ cup red onion, diced
1 - 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 - 15 ounce can black beans, drained, rinsed, then puréed in blender or food processor.
1 - 15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon hot chili powder
Finishing touches
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
sliced jalapenos
Orange wedges
Orange zest

How To Make At Home:

Start by seasoning the beef stew meat with salt and pepper and then browning it in a large fry pan that has been preheated with the vegetable oil. Once browned, transfer to a plate and reserve. The recipe says to line the plate with paper towel that will absorb any liquids, but I'm thinking you may want to pour any reserved liquid back to the pot.

After browning the beef stew meat, do the same with the kielbasa slices and reserve until needed.

Deglaze the pan with the orange juice, being sure to scrape up any brown bits (fond) from the pan. This is where a lot of flavor is.

In a crock pot, combine the onion, diced tomatoes, pureed black beans, cannellini beans, garlic and hot chili powder. Add the browned meats and the remaining deglazing liquid plus any juices left over from the resting meats.

Cover the crock pot and cook on the high heat setting for 4 hours or on the low setting for 6 hours. I figure my outdoor wood-burning oven is more like the slow setting.

Finish

Add the vinegar, taste to adjust seasoning and garnish with the jalapeno slices, orange wedges and orange zest. I stayed away from the jalapeno slices because I knew my kids wouldn't eat them.

I'll make the rice and collard greens one of these days and let you know how it is and if my kids give it a try. Maybe I can slip it past them but I don't think so.

Read 8592 times Last modified on Wednesday, 12 December 2012 18:27