Greek Beef Stew (p. 450)

I made this for a party. Everyone said they liked it. I thought it wasn't bad. Two things jumped out at me while I read this recipe - a) the meat isn't browned and b) there isn't a whole lot of liquid.

Meez:

You'll want 2 pounds of boiling onions (the book says these are 1-1 1/2 inches in diameter, I substituted 2 1/2 bags of pearl onions), 1 cup chopped parsley, 6 oz tomato paste, 1/2 cup dry white wine (went with a cheap pinot grigio), 1/4 cup red wine vinegar (I plan on making my own red wine and sherry vinegars in the near future), 2 tsp salt (kosher, as always), 1 tsp freshly ground cumin, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp crumbled dried oregano, 1 Turkish bay leaf (go Penzeys!), 3 pounds boneless chuck, cut into 1 1/2 cubes, 1/2 pound feta, 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, and orzo.

Procedure:
Preheat to 325. The book said to blanch the onions first to make peeling easier, this seemed like a larger pain in the butt than just plain peeling, in retrospect, blanching probably would have gone faster. Throw this in a big oven safe, lidded pot. Add everything else except the feta, walnuts, and orzo.

 All potted up

Bring this to a boil while stirring (to be fair, with as little liquid as is present, it's a little difficult to determine when it hits the boil). When I saw steam and some hissing, I lidded it up and put it in the preheated oven. Let it sit in there for about 2 1/2 hours. When that time is close to up, prepare your orzo. Lay down the orzo, spoon the stew on top, and add some feta and walnuts.

Ready to go

So, how was it?

Not bad. The combination of the spices, beef, and onions and the small amount of liquid made this a heartier meal than a regular stew. It was even better the next day.

What did you learn?
Browning isn't crucial to stew success (although it helps). I was advised to add the cinnnamon later in the game since it wasn't as detectable as the cumin and would help balance that out. Cinnamon is probably more volatile than cumin. I'd add to that the idea of adding the parsley in the last 10 - 20 minutes of cooking instead of at the beginning. I like my greens green.

Recommend it?

It was definitely different. I liked how it laid on the orzo instead of dripping everywhere. I can recommend this if you've got the time and the ingredients.