Epic one-pot meal
Back in my personal chef days, I worked for a wonderful family that had a bit of a dinner conundrum. The father longed for his Sicilian American mother’s beef ragu, but his kids wouldn’t touch it because it contained — gasp! — vegetables.
Wanting to find a compromise, I added something to the recipe that few kids can resist: cheesy garlic bread. I made the family recipe as instructed, moving the stew from a deep pot to a sauté pan and reducing the liquid slightly. Then I popped open a can of biscuits, divided them into 16 portions, and wrapped them around little cubes of string cheese. I put these “bombs” on top of the stew, brushed the biscuits with garlic butter, and baked the whole thing in the oven until the biscuits were golden brown.
The kids were so excited by the gooey cheese-stuffed biscuits that they ate the stew that happened to come with it. The parents loved that their kids learned to like the family recipe, and the parents welcomed the new addition of biscuits, too. Mission accomplished.
A few notes
Don’t buy pre-cubed stew meat. It’s convenient, but it’s often a combination of different cuts — including meat from the top and bottom round, which won’t be as tender or juicy as meat from the chuck primal. Buy a piece of chuck roast and cut it up yourself for the best results.
When trimming the roast, cut away all the fat. Lots of extra fat will make the stew greasy.
Brown the meat in batches. Get the oil hot and brown the beef in two to three batches. If you overcrowd the meat in the pan, the heat will dissipate too much, and you’ll end up with stewed gray meat instead of flavorful seared meat.
Test for tenderness. It’s best to bite into a chunk of beef to check for doneness, rather than just going by time. Taste a piece of beef and if you’d prefer it more tender, continue to simmer, covered, until the beef is cooked to your liking. It doesn’t hurt to try two pieces, just to make sure.
Adding fresh basil right before serving adds a lovely herbal fragrance and flavor and makes this dish taste more vibrant.