You can use this recipe to make stew with pretty much any strongly flavoured red meat: beef, pork, wild boar, venison or pheasant. I would not recommend it for lamb, chicken or turkey.

Ingredients:

• About 3 tablespoons of olive oil,
• 1 large white onion,
• 1 leek, sliced,
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped,
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced (you can instead use swede or parsnip),
• about half a teaspoon of dried thyme,
• about half a teaspoon of dried oregano or marjoram,
• about 1 lb. of meat,
• about 6 medium sized mushrooms (champignons), quartered,
• about 2 tablespoons of plain flour.
• 2 bay leaves,
• about 10 drops of Worcestershire sauce,
• about 4 tablespoons of aceto balsamico (balsamic vinegar),
• a tin of tomatoes,
• 2 tablespoons of tomato purée,
• about 3 glasses of strong red wine (or if you have it, you can substitute an appropriate meat stock for some of the wine),
• a heaped teaspoon of sambal oelek (or a teaspoon of chili-powder),
• a heaped teaspoon of medium mustard (e.g. German mittelscharfer Senf or American mustard - if you use English mustard, then much less of it, or you will blow your head off),
• a tablespoon of paprika powder,
• about half a teaspoon of marmite (you can leave this out, if you don't have it),

Method

1. Add the oil to a large casserole dish (or a Dutch Oven),
2. add the thyme and and oregano to the dish,
3. slice the onion, add to the dish, and start to fry on a medium heat,
4. add the chopped garlic to the dish,
5. stir regularly,
6. once the onion is about half cooked, add the leek and carrots to the dish,
7. when the onion and leek looks mostly cooked, add the meat,
8. keep stirring,
9. once the meat is sealed (lightly browned on all sides), add the mushrooms and stir in,
10. after about 3 minutes, add the flour and stir until it has formed a smooth Roux,
11. add the red wine, tinned tomatoes and tomato purée, and stir until smooth,
12. add the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, aceto balsamico, bay leaves, sambal oelek, paprika powder and marmite,
13. reduce the heat to a slow simmer and put on the lid,
14. stir every 20 minutes to ensure that nothing sticks to the bottom of the dish, adjusting the heat to maintain a slow simmer,
15. if there is not enough liquid, add more wine; if it is too runny, whisk in more flour,
16. simmer for at least 3 hours (more is better) before serving,
17. if you want to make dumplings, add them to the stew about an hour before serving; alternatively, serve with mashed potatoes.

Dumplings

I like dumplings in my stew, so here is how to make dumplings.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of plain flour,
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder,
• half a teaspoon of salt,
• half a teaspoon of thyme (fresh or dried),
• half a teaspoon of oregano or marjoram (fresh or dried),
• optionally, some spices, to taste (the photo above shows dumplings with turmeric - about 2 teaspoons - but you can use ground cardamom and coriander if you want),
• about 3 tablespoons of oil (my mother always used suet, but it is easier to use oil),
• some water (about 3 tablespoons).

Method

1. Thoroughly mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl,
2. add the oil and gently kneed it in with your fingers- the mixture should now be clumpy but not wet,
3. gradually kneed in the water until the dough is wet enough to form into dumplings,
4. form the dough into dumplings by rolling between the palms of your hands, and place them in the stew,
5. leave the dumplings in the covered simmering stew for an hour, and they will be ready to eat.