Meat balls in tomato sauce

A favourite recipe in our household... stemming from Claudia Roden's book of Jewish food.

Serves 4

500 g minced beef
1 small onion or shallot, minced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 garlic cloves, cut finely
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp sugar
500 g tomato passata

Fry garlic in sunflower oil, then add tomatoes and sugar. Season with pepper and salt. Bring the sauce to the boil, then let it simmer.
Meanwhile prepare the meat balls: mix beef, onion, cinnamon and salt. Form small balls, the size of a big walnut.
Add the meat balls to the sauce, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and let the meat balls simmer for 15-20 min until cooked.

Notes

You can leave out the onion.
I used to add a small pepper (peperoncino) to the sauce to spice things up, but I'm leaving this out now for the sake of the little ones in our household.

Boeuf bourguignon

For New Year's Eve we are making boeuf bourguignon, based on a recipe by Alice B. Toklas. It's been prepared one day in advance.

Serves 4

1 kg beef, special meat for stews, in cubes
butter
150 g bacon, in cubes
2 dl red wine
12 small onions, cut in quarters
2 cloves garlic, cut finely
2 carrots, cut in thin vertical slices
a few mushrooms, cut in slices
1 bay leaf
a few thyme sprigs
a piece of nutmeg
salt & pepper
1 slice of bread, without crusts

Put a big cooking pan on very low heat and add a little wine.
Fry beef in butter, seal it well on all sides, add pepper and salt generously, transfer to cooking pan. Fry one half of the meat first and then the remainder.
Fry bacon in the same pan used for frying the meat, then transfer to the big pan.
Fry onion for a few minutes in the same pan, then add carrots and garlic. Fry for a few more minutes, then remove from the pan and set aside.
Fry mushrooms in the same pan, then remove and set aside.
Cover beef and bacon with red wine and some hot water if necessary. The meat should just be covered. Add bay leaf, thyme and nutmeg. Put the slice of bread on top.
Let this simmer on very low heat for 3 hours.
Then add onions and carrots and let it simmer for another 30 min.
Add mushrooms and let it simmer for 5 min.
Remove bay leaf, thyme and nutmeg.
Serve with parsley.

Note: I'm not sure about when to add the garlic. It's probably better not to add it together with the carrots. Then you can fry onions and garlic at medium heat without fearing to burn the garlic. I need to consult with master cook P on this.

Beef stew

Now that we live in a new home with more space, it's easier to invite our friends and family for dinner. And we've had lots of visitors who came to see our little one.

Most of the time we cook them this traditional Flemish dish. The recipe is my mother's. It tends to meet with success.

Serves 4

1 kg beef, in cubes (carbonaden, special meat for stew)
2 big onions, peeled and cut in half slices
1 bottle Palm beer (or another beer, preferably dark)
butter
1 slice of bread
mustard

Heat butter in frying pan until golden brown.
Add part of the meat and fry on fairly high heat until it's sealed and has a crust.
Transfer the meat to another pan on very low heat, add pepper and salt and cover the pan.
Repeat this until all the meat is fried.
Fry the onion in the same pan, add salt and pepper, and add to the meat.
Pour some beer in the pan, then add to the meat, and repeat with all of the beer.
If necessary, add a little water to the pan; the meat should just be covered.
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat.
Add a slice of bread without crust, covered with mustard.
Cover the pan and let it simmer on very low heat for 2-3 hours.

We usually serve this with apple sauce, oven-baked fries (Lutosa) and home-made mayonaise.

Note 1: for big eaters, take some more meat.
Note 2: you can add half a box of dried prunes. Soak them for 30 min in lukewarm water and add them to the stew for the last 30 min of cooking.

Beef stew with quince

Another Claudia Roden recipe called khoreshte beh, which stems from Persia.


Serves 6

2 big onions, chopped
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 kg beef shoulder (or other meat for stew), in 2,5 cm cubes
1,5 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1oo g yellow split peas, soaked for 1 hr
2 big quince, washed, without core and cut in big slices (with or without skin)
4 tbsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp sugar

Fry onions in a big pan until soft. Add the meat and fry until it's brown. Add just enough hot water to cover the meat, add spices, pepper & salt, and let simmer for 1 hour.
Add split peas and quince and if necessary more water. Let it simmer for another 30 min, until split peas and quince are cooked. Add lemon juice and sugar 15 min before the end of cooking time.

Notes
You can also use lamb or veal.
I couldn't find the split peas so I used red lentils.
Next time I will fry onions and meat separately, in order to be able to really seal the meat on high heat.
Taste the dish and add more sugar or lemon juice if necessary

Beef curry

My aunt gave me this recipe for a delicious beef curry.


1 kg beef (the kind for stewing, cut into pieces)
2 tsp salt
4 tsp black pepper
400 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp fresh ginger, chopped or grated
3 red chilli peppers
1 tbsp madras curry powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 pieces of lemon rind
1 piece of lemon grass
1 tsp ground fennel seed
1 tsp ground cumin

Mix pepper and salt thoroughly with meat.
Heat coconut milk on medium heat and add everything except meat, fennel and cumin.
Boil for 1-2 min., add meat, bring to the boil and then simmer for 2-3 hrs in a covered pan.
Roast fennel and cumin and add it at the end.

Note:
I only used 2 chillies and removed them after 1 hour.
I omitted lemon rind and lemon grass because I didn't have any.
I used normal fennel seed, not ground.
I also added a little water to the coconut milk.
After 2,5 hours I added some chopped potatoes and let the dish simmer until they were cooked.