Bulgarian Style Beef Stew

When Saturday Night Live was still fairly new and funny and Dan Ackroyd was still on the show, he used to do a parody of Julia Child. In a now famous sketch, Ackroyd, playing Julia, cuts his hand badly while trying to do a cooking demonstration. Ackroyd /Julia continues with the cooking lesson while blood is spurting in every direction, covering walls, floors, food and just about everything in sight. I forget how the skit ends, I think Ackroyd/Julia eventually passes out from loss of blood but I’m not certain. Anyway, the reason why I bring it up is because I was reminded of it on Sunday after cutting my finger while chopping some onions. Tom was napping, Charlie (my cat) stood by silently (rolling his eyes) while I tried my best not to bleed all over the dinner preparations. The cut wasn’t all that bad really, but I guess I was feeling giddy from loss of blood and remembering that skit sent me into peels of silly laughter. Picturing myself bleeding all over the kitchen ala Ackroyd made me laugh harder and this caused me to knock over the cutting board sending bloody onion slices flying everywhere. Luckily only the cat witnessed this temporary insanity…and he won’t talk.

SO! The stew was a request from Tom, who didn’t like my idea of savory crepes filled with ham, gruyere cheese and sautéed mushrooms for dinner. He wanted something heartier, something more stick to your ribs so I told him to bite me no, no, no! So I turned to my cookbooks, but after flipping through a few of them and not finding any recipes that appealed to me, I decided to turn to Epicurious to see what I could find. The recipe for Bulgarian Beef Stew really jumped out at me because of the large quantity of sweet Hungarian Paprika it called for. I love paprika so I was sold, THIS was going to be dinner.

I’m calling my version Bulgarian Style Beef Stew because I did do things a little differently. I’m not sure why I chose to do things differently, but it turned out well so I’m glad I did. I first dredged the meat in flour seasoned with salt, pepper and marjoram, then browned the seasoned meat in butter before removing it with a slotted spoon and setting it aside rather than making a roux. I didn’t chop the onions, I bled all over them remember, heh, just kidding, I sliced them into thin slices and let them get dark and caramelized. I purposely used more beef stock and wine because I wanted extra broth and then I added about a quarter cup of red wine vinegar just to help season the stew without adding more and more salt. I was heavy handed with the spices, closer to 3-1/2 TBS. of paprika and 1-1/2 TSP of savory. I thought I had cayenne on hand but couldn’t find it so I used dried red pepper flakes instead. We ate it with rice as per Tom’s request rather than thick egg noodles and when I served it up into bowls I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over everything. The result was a rich and tasty stew, with a broth that had depth and character but not so much so that it was overpowering the flavor of the beef. A nice variation from the usual beef stew I make and something I imagine will probably taste even better the next day.

from the Epicurious website...

Bulgarian Beef Stew

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 4 cups chopped onions
• 10 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 bay leaves
• 3 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon dried summer savory
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 cups beef stock or canned broth
• 1/3 cup dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

12 ounces egg noodles

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and bay leaves. Sauté until onions are golden, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. Add to pot. Add paprika, lemon peel, savory and cayenne pepper; stir until meat is coated. Add stock and wine. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until meat is very tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Using slotted spoon, transfer meat to bowl. Mix butter and flour in small bowl until smooth paste forms. Add to cooking liquid in pot, whisking constantly. Simmer until cooking liquid thickens to sauce consistency, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Return meat to sauce. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.)

Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. TRansfer to large bowl.

Bring stew to simmer. Spoon over noodles. Sprinkle with parsley and serve. Serves 6.

Written by Deb on October 20, 2003 12:01 AM