Stew is the perfect dish to face cold winter days or when you're in need of comfort food. The classic preparation involves the use of meat as a basic ingredient, but our chefs suggest you be daring and use other products.
From the School of La Cucina Italiana, here are three tips for preparing a stew that will impress your guests.
1. The ingredients
If choosing meat as an ingredient, the fat and nerve cuts are preferred: whilst it cooks the connective tissue will become gelatinous, making the flesh very soft and helping enrich the juice.
Whatever the chosen ingredient, fish or vegetables, the size of the pieces must be about 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches. These sizes allow the cooking to soften the initial texture.
2. The preparation
To prepare a stew, the first step is to sauté the ingredients in a casserole with a fatty component, such as butter or lard. This step concentrates the flavor and seals the juices inside.
The stew is then cooked slowly: the heat must be low and if necessary, the ingredients must be wet with water or broth. For an even tastier and delicate version, with a beef stew, for example, you can add wine or milk.
The temperature must not exceed 190°F, to prevent the meat from drying out too much.
3. The flour
Flour is a fundamental ingredient in making stew, especially a meat stew. Its function is to give greater roasting, during the searing phase, as well as to tying together the sauce. Be very careful though and pay attention to the quantity of this ingredient: dosing it badly could ruin everything.
And now, from our In-House Kitchen, here's the alternative recipe:
Cuttlefish Stew Recipe
Ingredients:
10 oz cuttlefish
7 oz celeriac
7 oz Jerusalem artichoke
1 us quart fish stock
10 oz chopped onion
extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper
Method:
Cut the cuttlefish into strips and sauté them in a saucepan with the onion and a drizzle of oil. Then add the fish stock and continue the cooking.
Cut the Jerusalem artichokes into small pieces, season with oil and salt then roast them in the oven for a few minutes.
Then peel the celeriac and cut it into cubes.
Once the cuttlefish is cooked, add the vegetables and leave to cook.
Serve the cuttlefish stew lovely and hot.
Text by Caterina Limido
