- Melisa Smith
Spicy Sweet Stew with Koss Sauce
A Spicy Sweet Stew
with Koss Sauce
This recipe was inspired by my recipe for Jamaican Beef Stew and a new favorite condiment at our house. We do eat stews often in our home, especially when you include the Asian and Middle Eastern curries we love. I'm always looking for a way to bring variety to them. Sweet & spicy Jamaican Beef Stew is one of our favorites.
After cooking with Koss Sauce, I decided it would make a great addition to a stew. I was also looking for something to add more deep notes to this stew so red wine, in this case Cabernet Sauvignon, was a natural as it's the base liquid ingredient in Beef Bourguignon. How could that be bad?
Heat the oil in a dutch oven on the stove top, then sprinkle the beef with salt and pepper. Start searing the meat in batches until all of the pieces are well browned. Reserve the browned pieces of beef in a pie plate as the rest finish searing.
When all of the beef has been seared, add the sliced onion to the dutch oven and replace the seared meat and any juices that have accumulated in the pie plate to the pot as well.
Of course I'm using a stew beef here, but I'm sure this would make a fantastic recipe for venison or other large game animals.
There is much debate about what is the best meat to use for stews. Some say you should always source a quality large piece of meat, cut it into large cubes yourself and avoid "stew beef" at the grocery store. This seems like "Bull" to me.
Long slow braising equals tender tasty meat. Most stew meats are the trim from some of the best cuts of beef that the butcher thought were just too good to grind into hamburger. As for beefy flavor, it's in there.
While the beef is searing, I prep the vegetables and braising liquid so that when the beef has all been browned I can add in the Koss sauce, beef broth, Cabernet Sauvignon, 1/2 cup water, garlic powder, Mel's secret spice blend, potatoes, carrots, bay leaves (if using) and Serrano chilies.
Bring this all to a boil while stirring and deglazing the pan of it's delicious brown bits that add so much great flavor to the stew.
Now it's time to turn the heat down to low and simmer the stew with the lid on for 1 1/2 to 2 hours stirring occasionally until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened.
We love spicy, so when I use Serrano chilies, I generally slice them up and use them seeds and all. If you'd like to keep this dish a bit milder, remove the seeds or omit the Serrano pepper all together. There will be a nice bit of spicy going on in this stew from the Koss Sauce already.
Garnish with green onions or parsley if you like and serve with a crusty loaf of bread or some lovely dinner rolls. This would be delicious over rice as well and you could keep it gluten free!
What do you think? Have you tried Koss Sauce yet?
Cheers!
~Melisa
Ingredients
1 pound beef or venison stew meat
1 tablespoon good vegetable cooking oil
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
1/2 cup Koss Sauce
3 pinches salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large white onion, sliced
1 Serrano chili pepper, sliced
3-4 medium red potatoes cut into large pieces
2 large carrots cut in large pieces
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 bay leaves ( optional)
1/2 teaspoon Mel's Secret Spice Blend
Method
Heat the oil a dutch oven on the stove top then sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Start searing the meat in batches until all pieces are well browned. Reserve the browned pieces of beef in a pie plate to rest as they finish searing.
When all the beef has been seared, replace the seared meat and any juices that have accumulated in the pie plate into the dutch oven.
Next add in the Koss sauce, beef broth, Cabernet Sauvignon, 1/2 cup water, garlic powder, Mel's secret spice blend, potatoes, carrots, bay leaves (if using) and Serrano chilies.
Bring this all to a boil while stirring. This will deglaze the pan of it's delicious brown bits and add flavor to the stew.
Now turn the heat down to low and simmer the stew for 1 1/2 to 2 hours stirring occasionally until the meat is tender.
Garnish with green onions or parsley if you like and serve with a crusty loaf of bread or some lovely dinner rolls.