Spanish Braised Beef

All rejoice, it is almost braising season! I got in a little early and recently cooked up a gigantic pot of this Spanish Braised Beef. I found the recipe on Gourmet Traveller, but um, things didn’t work out.

The original recipe called for beef cheeks, which I liked for sweet honeypie reasons (beef cheeks = happy, sour chops = sad), but I got laughed out of three butcheries in Marrickville “Beef Cheeks? No.” Oh, sour chops. Never fear though, any of the less choice cuts of meat will work.

The original recipe also requested Saffron, which as well as being an amazing flavour is just too expensive for such a rustic, homely meal. Then there was the Spanish Olives, which don’t seem to be stocked anywhere in my Greek neighbourhood. Then there was the cooking in the oven – this wouldn’t fly with my baking plans. Sour chops, galore.

So I switched it up and we ate it for dinner 3 nights that week, just heated through with some vegetables and cannelini beans, delectable. I’m all kinds of beef cheeks for comforting braises.

(Not so) Spanish Braised Beef
adapted from Gourmet Traveller’s Spanish Braised Beef Cheeks
Recipe has been edited to include more details and improve comprehension, please comment if the recipe is still unclear and I will re-update. These edits are italicised
Serves 6 – 8

1kg beef (I used the interestingly titled ‘gravy beef’, but you could use brisket or even beef cheeks, if one could find them),
2 onions, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
1t fresh rosemary, chopped
4 bay leaves
1t smoked sweet paprika
300ml dry sherry
40ml sherry vinegar
400ml chicken stock
3/4 cup olives (I used kalamata, the recipe said Spanish Green Olives)
flat leaf parsley
100ml extra virgin olive oil
seasoned flour, for dusting.

tin cannellini beans (optional) 

In a large pan heat 20ml olive oil and add onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until softened, then add tomato and herbs and cook until tomato become soft, about 10 mins.

Meanwhile, heat a frypan to medium. Dust beef with seasoned flour, and fry in remaining oil in batches until browned. Remove and add to the onion/tomato mixture. When all the beef is browned off, add paprika to the pan and fry for a moment, then deglaze with the sherry, and pour over the beef. Add the stock and vinegar to the beef/tomato/onion, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook over a low heat for several hours until the meat is very tender. Stir from time to time to ensure that the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan, and also that the meat get moved around as some pieces may not always be totally submerged. The mixture should be just bubbling. 

This dish is ready when the sauce had thickened slightly and the beef is very tender, so you can break it apart with a fork or spoon. If you don’t have several hours, (I cooked mine for about 3 -4 hours), then you can cut your meat into smaller pieces and cook at a higher temperature, though you will need to pay more attention to it to ensure that it doesn’t catch and burn on the bottom. Doing this could reduce cooking time to 1.5 hours or even less.

To serve, stir through a few handfuls of chopped flat leaf parsley and the olives cook for a a few minutes. Serve with lentils, beans, potatoes or polenta and vegetables. I added a tin of cannelini beans (for 2 people, if you are serving more people then more beans may be required) in at the same time at the parsley and olives, and simmered it until the beans were heated through and had broken up and little bit. 

I am only cooking for two people, so we ate this several times in a week. What I did was cook the braise until it was ready then portioned out enough for a meal into a separate pan. I finished this smaller amount with the parsley, olives and tinned beans, and cooled and refrigerated the remainder. Doing this will ensure that parsley and olives stay fresh, and don’t become overcooked and tarnish the flavour of  the whole dish.