This recipe for Captain’s Stew is from The Scandinavian Cookbook by Trina Hahnemann that I reviewed recently. If you follow the chapters in the book then technically it’s a March recipe but since we are once again feeling the cold here I decided a stew was exactly what we needed to warm ourselves up again for dinner yesterday.
What you need:
4 tbsp olive oil
1kg diced beef
1.5 ltres water
2kg potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion finely chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp whole peppercorns
1 tbsp sea salt
50g butter
salt & pepper
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and, when medium-hot add the beef and fry until lightly browned. Add the water and bring gradually to the boil, skimming any froth from the surface (this will take about 5 minutes)
Add the potatoes, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt. Simmer for 1½ hours or until the meat is very tender and falls apart easily – you may need to cook it for a further 30 minutes.
Stir in the butter. Use a balloon whisk to mash the potatoes and meat together – though note that the stew has to remain lumpy.*
Season with salt & freshly ground pepper (if needed)
*I didn’t mash the potatoes and meat together as my potatoes were quite fluffy any way and this would have turned them into mush!
Mammy's Kitchen 