Portuguese stew – Tia Maria's Blog

Beef Stew with Sweet Potato – Carne Guisada com Batata Doce

**This savory stew is my go to recipe when ever my family requests a stew for dinner.**

I always add sweet potatoes to my beef stew since it adds great flavor and the texture thickens the broth. Make a big pot to enjoy the next day. I add mushrooms and peas, but of course this is optional to your taste.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 pounds beef stew meat (cut into 2 inch pieces)

2 large onions (chopped)

2 large stalks celery (chopped)

4 cloves garlic (finely minced)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 beef bouillon cube or 1 cup beef broth

1 and 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup red wine

1/2 cup port wine

1 bay leaf

4 large potatoes (cut into 1 to 2 inch cubes)

2 large sweet potatoes (cut into 2 inch cubes)

1 to 2 pounds mushrooms (optional)

1 cup frozen sweet peas (optional)

parsley for garnish

Preparation:

Marinate meat in salt, garlic, pepper, paprika and red wine for a few hours or overnight in refrigerator in a bowl. When ready to cook take meat out of refrigerator and let sit for 20 minutes at room temperature. Reserve liquid and place meat in clean bowl and add the flour. Shake meat to coat with flour.

Heat the oil in large heavy dutch oven or pan and brown meat on all sides. Add onion, celery, carrots, bay leaf, beef bouillon, water, reserved marinade and port wine. Stir evenly and let cook on medium for about 1 hour. Stir often so the stew does not stick and burn. Add both potatoes and cook for another 30-45 minutes until cooked. Cook mushrooms in a small pan with 1 tablespoon butter for about 5 minutes. (I like to add the mushrooms on top of stew but this is optional you can also add the mushrooms into the stew to cook.) Add peas during the last few minutes.

Top with parsley for garnish. Serve with Portuguese red wine or any good red wine.

Order the glass cutting board seen in the Beef Stew image here.

Serve with Portuguese red wine of course.

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March 30, 2010

Feijoada à Transmontana – Portuguese Bean Stew

Feijoada, is Portugal’s version of Chili, perfect for your next big party!

It originated around the 14th century in the Northern region of Portugal. Generally, Feijoada is made with white beans but in the Tras os Montes region, red kidney beans are used.

During that time meat was scarce, so the poor peasants began using every part of the pig as a staple in their diets along with beans and cabbage which were easily available.

This dish is great served with classic Portuguese rice recipe and your favorite Portuguese Bread. If you want to get really adventurous try making home made Pao Caseiro!

It’s one of those dishes that taste even better the next day! Enjoy!

Makes 12 -15 servings

Ingredients:

Note: You can use all of the following ingredients or use only the meats that you like. You can omit the knuckles, ears etc.

2 lbs baby back ribs (cut into small riblets)

2 lbs chourica sausage (cut into slices)

1 lb blood sausage (if desired) (cut into slices)

1 lb ( presunto, smoked shoulder ham, or salted pork belly cut into 2 inch strips)

2 lbs pig hocks or knuckles, pig ears, (optional)

1 small regular cabbage, savoy cabbage or any green leafy cabbage (cut into quarters)

2 carrots (sliced)

1 large onion finely (chopped)

2 large cloves garlic (chopped)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon cumin powder

2 or 3 large 32 oz cans cooked kidney beans

1/2 cup crushed tomatoes

Instructions:

The night before cooking, salt the ribs, wash the knuckles in cold water, salt them, and store in fridge overnight to absorb the salt.

The next day, cook the knuckles in a large pot of unsalted water for at least 1 1/2 hours or until they’re easy to cut apart. Reserve the liquid for later.

Meanwhile, saute onions, garlic, and bay leaf in the olive oil for about 5 min. Add ribs, pork belly and paprika.

Let them cook for about 5 minutes stirring them so they don’t stick to pan.

Add 2 cups of cooking liquid from the knuckles and let the ribs cook for another 20 minutes, stirring once in a while.

Add the rest of the meats (chourica, presunto, ham, knuckles) chopped cabbage, carrots, and tomato sauce.

Stir gently and let them cook for about 30 minutes. Add the kidney beans, blood sausage and cabbage and cook for another 10 minutes.

Stir the pot gently so you don’t break up the beans or the cabbage. Taste, and add more salt if desired. Cook until the cabbage is tender. Leave pan on low heat until ready to serve

Here’s a video the acclaimed Portuguese Chef from Tras os Montes – Marco Gomes executive chef at Fox Velha, Porto, Portugal – preparing Feijoada à transmontana on RTP – Praça da Alegria.

Marco Gomes is passionate about using farm to table ingredients in the traditional recipes.

“I was born in the interior of Portugal where cooking was part of everything,” he said. And its these roots that he goes back to in the kitchen. “I give the food a different look but I keep the traditional flavors. It’s important to be innovative without losing the traditional flavors.” Marco Gomes