The Bakery restaurant, 2218 N. Lincoln Ave., serves this veal tarragon stew with dumplings. Barbara Kuck, the Bakery`s chef-director, says the recipe comes from Transylvania, and has an ”intriguing taste” from the tarragon, bay leaf and vinegar.
VEAL TARRAGON STEW WITH TINY DUMPLINGS
Eight servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes
2 cups minced onions
4 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, mashed with 2 teaspoons salt
2 pounds cubed veal
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons tarragon
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup white wine
1/3 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 pound mushrooms
1 1/2 cups milk
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup sour cream
Tiny dumplings, recipe follows
1. In large Dutch oven, saute onions in butter until transparent. Mash the garlic and salt together with the flat surface of a knife until it turns to a pulp. Add to the onions, then add veal, bay leaf, tarragon, sugar, white wine, vinegar and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Adjust heat to medium. Cover and cook until veal is tender, 30 to 40 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and cook 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Mix milk and flour. Stir mixture into the veal and heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings.
4. Just before serving, mix the sour cream into the sauce and add remaining parsley. Serve with tiny dumplings.
TINY DUMPLINGS
Eight servings
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Standing time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
4 slices day-old white bread, preferably hard-crusted Vienna or French type, or 2 day-old hard rolls; cubed and lightly toasted in the oven or in a frying pan
1 cup hot veal stock or broth
2 tablespoons finely minced onion, sauteed in 1 tablespoon shortening
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons sour cream
3 to 4 tablespoons cooked crumbled bacon, optional
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon finely minced parsley
1. Place toasted bread cubes in a large bowl and pour boiling hot stock over them. Let stand until cool and well soaked. Add sauteed onion, pepper, salt, egg whites and sour cream. Add bacon if you like. Slowly add flour and parsley. Let stand 30 minutes.
2. With wet hands, form mixture into small balls about the size of a large hazelnut. Ease dumplings into lightly salted boiling water and simmer about 10 minutes. Keep warm in cooking liquid until just before serving. Serve wtih stew.
The following recipe was developed by Beverly Dillon, recipe tester in The Tribune`s test kitchen.
BEEF BOURGUIGNONNE WITH VEGETABLES
Six servings
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/2 to 2 hours
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups frozen pearl onions
1 cup chopped yellow onions or white part of leek
2 pounds boneless round steak or beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon each: salt, freshly ground black pepper, marjoram, thyme
3 cups beef broth
2 cups red wine
1 pound carrots, trimmed, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 each: red bell pepper, green pepper, halved, seeded, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, optional
1. Heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat in large Dutch oven. Add pearl onions, saute, until lightly browned, stirring often. Remove with slotted spoon to side dish. Reserve.
2. Add remaining butter to same pan. Add yellow onions or leeks. Cook over medium heat just until wilted, about 10 minutes. Add meat in single layer. Cook and stir until meat is brown on all sides.
3. Add flour, salt, pepper, marjoram and thyme. Cook, stirring until well mixed and flour has also browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add beef broth and wine;
heat to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover pan. Simmer until meat is tender, about 1 hour.
4. Add carrots and potatoes; simmer, covered, 20 more minutes. Add peppers, mushrooms and peas. Simmer, covered, until all vegetables are tender, about 10 more minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, and boil gently to thicken juices slightly. Stir in pearl onions and serve.
Stefato is a classic Greek beef stew, with red wine, red vinegar, brown sugar and cinnamon combining to give its unique flavor. This recipe is from Bernard Clayton Jr.`s ”Complete Book of Soups and Stews.”
GREEK BEEF STEW
(STEFATO)
Four servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 2 1/4 hours
2 pounds lean beef, cut in 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
24 small white pearl onions, peeled
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
3/4 cup tomato paste
2 bay leaves, crumbled
8 peppercorns
1 stick cinnamon, 2-inch
1 garlic clove, mashed
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Salt to taste
1/2 cup walnuts, broken coarsely
1/4 pound feta cheese, coarsely crumbled
1. Cut beef into cubes and trim off fat and connective tissue.
2. In a medium saucepan with lid, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until it smokes. Drop in beef cubes and spread over bottom. Stir with a wooden spoon until all sides are brown, about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Repeat with balance of meat.
3. While meat is sauteing, place onions in small saucepan of cold water. Bring to a boil and drain immediately.
4. When all meat is sauteed, drop butter into the saucepan and add onions. Sprinkle with sugar (to carmelize) and saute to a light golden color over medium heat. Stir onions to color uniformly. Lift out onions with a slotted spoon and set aside. They will be added to the stew after it has cooked for an hour or so.
5. Return meat to saucepan and add wine, water, vinegar, tomato paste, spices and brown sugar. The liquid should barely cover the meat. Add water if necessary. It may also be necessary to add small amounts of water from time to time during the cooking to maintain that level. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat and simmer with the lid on for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender when pierced with the point of a sharp knife or fork.
6. Taste for seasoning, especially salt. Carefully spoon onions into the stew and mix throughout. Replace cover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
7. The nuts and feta cheese may be sprinkled generously over the stew in a tureen or passed at the table.
TIPS ON HOW TO COOK A POT OF GREAT STEW
Making a pot of stew can be one of the simplest meals to prepare.
Stews, for the most part, are casual. If you decide you want a little more basil or more pepper, add it. Think you`d like a can of tomatoes? Fine. A cup of wine. Good.
A stew can be changed, adjusted, added to, right up to the moment you serve it. Recipes are good guides, but your own tastebuds can dictate the final mix.
Following are some tips for stewmaking:
– The last step is the first tip. Stews often taste better the second day. A stay in the refrigerator gives stew time to develop its flavors.
– Tougher cuts of meat are used for stews: round steak, flank, chuck, veal and pork shoulder, for example. That`s because the long, slow cooking breaks down tough tissue and the meat becomes tender. Simmering tender cuts of meat for long periods of time has the opposite effect; the meat toughens or becomes stringy.
– The first step in most meat stews is browning the chunks of meat. Sometimes the meat is dredged in flour before browning. Browning the meat enriches the meat`s flavor and gives it a wonderful color; it also produces a crusty and tasty residue at the bottom of the pan that can then be added to the stew pot. The stew pot itself can be used for browning the meat if it has a wide enough cooking surface; just make sure to scrape the crusty food loose from the bottom before adding the other stew ingredients.
– After the meat is browned, it`s put in a stock pot with a liquid and the vegetables and spices, covered and simmered. Cooking time is often several hours. It`s that slow, covered simmering that gives the flavor.
– Simmering is described by cookbook author Bernard Clayton Jr., as ”a languid movement of heated water (or other liquid) just before the bubbles begin to break the surface.” You don`t want to cook your stew at a galloping boil.
– A variety of liquids can be used for stews. Chicken, beef or fish stock can be made in advance simply by boiling bones. Canned boullion or broth are acceptable. Wine often is used as a flavor enhancer.
– Fat from the meat will add flavor while the stew cooks, but you don`t want a layer of grease when you`re ready to serve. The fat can be removed after cooking, either with a spoon or by blotting with a paper towel. Or you can refrigerate the stew and then remove the hardened layer of fat from the top.
