Beef shin stew with pimentón, beans and sweet peppers

What to cook for a Saturday supper when your budget is suddenly decimated by a TV conking out? Well, once you’ve been to Makro and bought a really lekker Google brand and got your son-in-law to install it, you head for the supermarket and buy some cheap meat. That’s what you do.

Like beef shin. In chunky slices. Quite what you do with it will have to wait until you’ve watched a couple of episodes of Little House on the Prairie, the new version of which is really good by the way. The remake (or, rather, new version based on the classic American novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder) is pleasingly honest and old-school, with no attempt to modernise the old tales. Refreshingly real. Loving it.

But I still made time to cook. In fact, I decided to take 45 minutes out to get a stew on the go while we watched a few more episodes. So this is a perfect Saturday recipe.

I remembered that I’d bought a classy little tin of La Chineta de la Vera pimentón, a version of Spanish paprika that is slow-smoked in oak in the De la Vera region. There are three variations of smoked paprika — sweet, spicy, and bittersweet — and this was sweet. Now that I have it in my pantry, I have it in mind to make a paella when the weather turns hot later in the year. I see a paella pan looming on the shopping horizon.

I also fancy making brisket Texas-style but with a touch of Spain. That might lie in wait for the smoker day my family is planning for the spring. (We inherited a smoker with the house late last year, and it is huge, so requires a great deal of wood while the smoking is done, so to bring down costs – or make more cost-effective use of it – we’re compiling a menu of things to smoke when that day arrives.

The results will, of course, be documented right here, so there’s something to look forward to, I hope. My own first attempt in the smoker was a slew of whole peri-peri chickens and they were madly, insanely delicious, even if one says so oneself. Which one does.

Anyway, also in this recipe of course are beans. Nothing green. Rather, a can each of red kidney and black beans. And bringing in another element of Spain was four sweet peppers, also known as pimento peppers or paprika peppers which, for reasons that should not need explaining, were a natural fit. But I added them only at the end, diced very small, so that the resulting stew was given a bit of tiny crunch just before being served.

It’s built on a base of onion, celery and carrots, as so many great stews are, although I must learn how to make a Spanish sofrito of onions, tomatoes, peppers and garlic. That’s on my agenda to work with soon.

Oh, and the following evening I made another dish using the leftover stew. Come back in a day or two for that one.

For now, here’s my…

Beef shin stew with pimentón, beans and sweet peppers

Ingredients

(Serves 4-6, or 2 with leftovers for another recipe)

6 slices of beef shin

Olive oil, as needed

2 medium onions, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

2 celery stalks, diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

400ml white wine

400g can chopped tomatoes

400ml cold water

1 heaped tsp pimentón

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

4 sweet pimento peppers, trimmed, seeded and chopped

1 x 400g can red kidney beans

1 x 400g can black beans

Fresh parsley sprigs to garnish

Julienne sweet pepper strips, to garnish

Method

Prepare all of the vegetables.

Choose a heavy, deep pot and brown the meat first, to get some flavour and caramelisation in the base of the pan.

Add a little oil on a moderately high heat and brown the meat on both sides in batches. Remove to a side bowl.

Add a touch more olive oil, turn the heat to lowish, and add the onions. Cook gently, stirring, for 3 or 4 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a minute.

Add the celery and carrots, and cook slowly, stirring, for 5 minutes.

Add the white wine, turn the heat up high, and cook it down by half.

Now add the tomatoes, followed by the same amount of cold water (use the can).

Here’s the moment when you stir in 1 heaped teaspoonful of that lovely pimentón.

Season to taste with salt (be generous, it can take a fair bit). And black pepper too.

Return the browned beef shin to the pot, pushing them under the surface with a wooden spoon or spatula.

You’ll have noticed that there’s been no sign of the beans or peppers as yet. They will be added later. First you need to simmer the pot until the meat is tender – but not falling apart. That could take up to 3 hours, but watch the pot and if the meat is tender, it’s time to stop cooking, for now.

Before it’s time to serve, stir in the drained beans (don’t add the brine as it will spoil the consistency of your sauce, which has reduced down nicely by now).

Then, scatter the finely chopped peppers on top, pushing them under the surface. Before serving, taste and decide whether it needs more salt. Heat the stew through for just 3 minutes, so that the peppers retain their crunch. They’re there more for texture than anything else.

I served it just as it is – the beans were enough starch, I felt – but you could serve it on rice or paella if you prefer. Garnish with parsley and julienne strips of sweet peppers. DM

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Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award.

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