Recipes for stew to pamper the taste buds in winter!

In the heart of winter, stews all have one thing in common: they are simmered for long periods of time to develop flavors and keep ingredients soft and moist, such as pot-au-feu or chicken. a pot that is part of broth-based stews.

Home and economy kitchen

The characteristics of this large family are famous recipes that are sometimes forgotten. Like mironton (or sometimes miroton), this is an old-fashioned dish that’s popular and economical with home cooking, made with pot-au-feu or leftover roast meat, lots of onions, a few carrots, flour and stock. tie everything together.

Navari is said to have been invented by Antonin Karem in reference to the naval battle of the same name on the west coast of the Peloponnese in 1827, where the Turkish fleet was sunk by the Franco-Russian-British armada. You played on words and flavors with the celebrity chef’s lamb stew with turnips!

Foods that “increase your appetite”.

Let’s mention the blanket whose name is taken from Provence blanqueto means white. Traditionally made with veal or poultry, blanquette is a stew cooked in a white broth and sealed with egg yolks and cream at the end of cooking.

Among the stews, these stews made of meat and vegetables cooked in a sauce “ragoûtaient” (which means “to restore the appetite” in old French) have a special place.

Stew, between one and three days

This dish, whose etymology gave rise to the term Italian box it means “brew”, once it was cooked on a fork, in an earthenware or copper pot, to pour ashes and thus cook the recipe with embers under and above the pot. Modern daubières are these popular cast iron casserole dishes with rims for pouring boiling water and thus cooking very evenly.

Thus, the principle of the stew is to marinate pieces of meat in alcohol (red or white wine, beer, marc de Bourgogne) with a bouquet garni, an aromatic garnish consisting of onions decorated with cloves, vegetables and spices. Depending on the meat (beef, pork, game, rooster, etc.), this stage varies from 24 hours to three days. The meats are then drained, dried and lightly pan-fried before being floured and flavored garnishes are added to cook long and gently over low heat or in the oven.

Countless regional variations

French gastronomic terroir is an incredible inventory of regional variations. noble cogue au vin from Gevrey-Chambertin, chops from the North that give pride of place to beer; Provencal daube combines lamb and orange peel, while Marseillaise is made with red wine-marinated beef, olives and anchovies. In the Camargue stew called “Gardian”, beef is replaced by ox. Wild boar stew is a tradition in Var villages at Christmas. Catalans swear by the famous boles de picolat (three-meat meatballs cooked in a tomato sauce with green olives and porcini mushrooms).

Varda boar stew is served with fresh pasta or gnocchi. In Béarnais country, stew includes raw ham; A calf’s leg and Agenais plum to bring more softness to Saintongeais. As for the Alsatian stew, it includes potatoes cooked on low heat to seal the sauce. In the Aveyronnais, the peasant stew takes on the charming name of coufido, which says a lot about the comforting side of the recipe.

Among my favorite recipes is Givordin, an old Lyon dish of Rhone sailors who left this stew to simmer for a long time during their voyages to the South, and incorporated salt beef into the dish, an anchovy stew. , like a Southern holiday when parsley and butter get where they’re going!

In my library

Two books for mastering stews: French cuisine for all, By Laurent Mariotte, published by Solar (€22) and butcher supporter, By Hugo Desnoyer, published by First (€35).

—————-

Recipes

► Boles de picolat, Catalan stew

For 6 people

500 sausage meat

500 lean beef

500 beef

30 g of bread

10 g of milk

5 cloves of garlic

1 onion

1 bunch of parsley

40 g of flour

30 cl of white wine

400 g of tomato paste

80 g of green olives

50 g of black olives

100 g of dried porcini mushrooms

1 bird pepper

Fine salt and ground pepper

In a large bowl, combine the sausage meat, lean beef cut into sausage-sized pieces, and the same size veal. Add bread soaked in milk, salt, pepper and parsley (chopped parsley and garlic). Mix this preparation well and make about fifteen nice balls about the size of a small egg. Care must be taken not to pack too much meat into the meatballs, as they will be very compact and a bit suffocating after cooking.

Roll the meatballs into flour. Fry them in a casserole with a little peanut oil, take them out and add an onion and some flour. Deglaze with white wine, add tomato coulis. Return the picolat pans to the boil and cover with a little water. Add dried porcini mushrooms, previously soaked in boiling water, as well as green and black olives, as well as bell pepper. Cook on low heat for an hour and serve in picolata bowls with steamed potatoes or mashed potatoes.

► Veal stew

For 4 people

12 baby onions

2 carrots

300 g of beef

300 g of veal tendons

200 g minced beef

1 cup peanut butter

1 C. flour

20 cl of white wine

1 bouquet garni

2 pinches of nutmeg

200 g of button mushrooms

50 g of butter

1 egg yolk

1 lemon juice

2 tbsp. tablespoon heavy cream

Fine salt and white pepper from the mill

Peel the pearl onion, cut the peeled carrot into small cubes. Cut the pieces of meat into large cubes. Fry the pieces of meat in a casserole dish with peanut oil and 30 g of butter without browning too much. Add pearl onions, carrots and sprinkle with flour.

Mix well and pour in the white wine. Add water to the height, add salt, white pepper, nutmeg and add the bouquet garni. Leave to simmer for an hour on low heat, then add the mushrooms pre-fried in butter.