pearl couscous – Indian Culinary Center, NYC

I love making one pot meals as you may have noticed from my previous posts and also hearty stews are so comforting. They are easy to make and soul satisfying to me.

This is a chicken stew I made in a rich tomato sauce with potatoes

Season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper and sear on high heat till the chicken is golden brown. I throw in some fresh thyme while this is happening – you can use rosemary, oregano or almost any herb of your choice.

Because I am lazy or very smart – you decide – I make some room at the side of the pan and add a couple of table spoons of flour. I brown this for a few minutes until the flour is brown and cooked through. You might have to add a little oil to make sure this happens well.

Next, I add a cup or two of wine – red in this case since that’s what I was drinking. You can add white wine and or stock – even water works, I tell ya.

I also like to add tomato paste along with the flour for a deep rich color but I didn’t have any handy. The stew still came out well.

And if you get anything from my recipes – just know that they are suggestions and not the gospel – once you master some techniques, you can experiment. Don’t sweat or worse, not cook just because you don’t have one ingredient.

Sticking with the lazy or genius theme. I throw in a chopped onion or two and they will cook down just like you sauteed them in the beginning. At this time I like to add some more thyme and more salt and pepper.

Now for 6-8-10 cloves of garlic, crushed and a can of whole, peeled tomatoes, smushed up. Yes, that’s a word 🙂

After the garlic and tomatoes, I covered and simmered the chicken for about 30 minutes and then add the potatoes – cooking for another 20 minutes or until the potatoes and chicken is cooked through.

Next, taste the sauce for salt and adjust to taste.

Sometimes, I will add a few tbs. of wine which I don’t cook out – this gives the stew a unique flavor. Also a couple tbs. of vinegar can be nice in rounding out the flavors.

Serve this in one of many ways – as is with crusty bread, or over rice, pasta, couscous.

I like to make enough t so that I can eat it for a few days in different ways.

I hope you try this and other stews – they basically cook themselves and you get to look like the star in your kitchen.

Until I cook again!

While you may think a hearty stew is something you would eat in the fall and winter time.

You might be right but in my way of thinking, I like making dishes in the summer that take under 10 minutes to set up and then simmer to perfection as I can stay cool in an air conditioned room.

Last night was beef stew night or if you want to be fancy and impress your sweet as I was trying to – call is Beef Bourguignon. He was impressed – trust me.

Lets talk of the basics of a stew. A roomy pan, make sure the meat is dry and well seasoning and when you are browning it – do not crowd the pan, else the meat boils instead of sears. Add flour to thicken to sauce and I like to use tomato paste to add color, body and flavor to the stew. Red wine for red meats and white wine for the like of chicken and fish.

Use any vegetables like potatoes, turnips, onions, almost any root vegetables. Always add the vegetables when the meat is almost cook – simmer and in an hour or two you have dinner.

Here we have a hot pan, some oil, seasoned meat and searing. Make sure you don’t crowd the pan – do it in batches if need be. Once the meat is seared, sprinkle some flour. Stir well and cook. Make sure the flour is cooked through – there is nothing worse that the taste of raw flour. The flour will soak up the oil – don’t worry about it – just keep stirring and this is why you use a heavy pan – Le crueset if you have it.

Here we have the sprinkling of the flour, the oil being sucked up by the flour but then like in life, wine makes it all better. I add a nice amount of wine and some water or stock if you have it.

Throw in a bay leaf, I add some chopped garlic here – taste for salt and pepper and adjust it. Add some rosemary or thyme if you have it and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, lower the flame to a simmer and cover.

Now pour some of the wine in your glass and leave the kitchen.

Every so often, I come to the kitchen, give the pot a stir so people think I’m working so hard and also to refill my glass of wine.

In about an hour, add the potatoes or any other vegetable you may be using and simmer for another half hour or until the meat and vegetables are tender.

Right before you are ready to eat, add some more raw chopped garlic and a splash of wine. This gives a freshness to the stew.

You can serve this stew with a crusty baguette, over noodles or pearl couscous as I did last night.

I hope this clears up the mystery of a good stew and make em in the summer – gives you plenty of time to do others things and not stand in front of the stove.

Add herbs like parsley or mint and enjoy.

Until I cook again!

Tag: pearl couscous

Hearty chicken stew with potatoes over Couscous

MASTERING THE ART OF THE STEW – BEEF AND POTATO STEW IN THIS CASE

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