Beef stew with dried plums and pomegranate. This may appear to be a strange combination, but I assure you that it is an excellent dish, especially for sweet and sour lovers. I was surprised by the aroma and the intense taste and creaminess, right from the first try. Now it has become a traditional dish, especially in the Christmas holidays, where it takes a few touches to amaze the guests.
Prunes are clearly found all year round and pomegranates are still available in early winter, so you don’t have to worry about finding ingredients. This is combined with beef stew with red wine, which is a purely winter dish.
To obtain a perfect, soft and juicy stew, it is first necessary to flour the meat and then have a lot of patience. It is not a dish that requires a lot of attention, but you have to start in time, since for a perfect consistency it takes about 3 hours to cook.
Beef stew with dried plums and pomegranate
Ingredients (4 people):
- 800g beef stew
- 1 small red onion
- 100g diced smoked bacon
- 10-12 dried plums
- 2 pomegranates
- 100ml full-bodied red wine
- 300ml vegetable broth
- Flour (to flour)
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- Salt
Directions:
- First clean the onion and chop it coarsely with a knife, then place it in a saucepan together with the diced smoked bacon.
- Then cut the plums into small pieces, divide one of the pomegranates in half and extract the juice, squeezing well to avoid waste.
- Then flour the beef stew before proceeding with cooking.
- At this point, sauté the onion and the smoked bacon in the pan with a little oil.
- Then add the plums and the stew and brown well (for at least 2 minutes), so that the edges are sealed and does not lose too many juices during cooking. At this stage, if the bacon hasn’t released many juices and the pan is very dry, add a little more oil.
- Add the pomegranate juice and red wine and let it evaporate, then start adding a little broth at a time and continue whenever you see that it is drying too much.
- Stir from time to time, to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom, especially towards the end of cooking, when the plums tend to have become more sticky. For a perfect result, with a juicy and soft stew and a well-tied sauce, it takes about 3 hours of cooking. Add some salt towards the end, if necessary.
- At the end, serve and decorate with arils of the remaining pomegranate before serving. This stew is great served with baked potatoes, puree, or other grilled vegetables.