This dish is called “FASOLAKIA ME KREAS” in Greek and is usually prepared in just one casserole, gently simmering for several hours until so tender that it melts in your mouth and actually becomes a liittle too mushy (if you’re not attentive during the long & gentle simmering) . . .

In the summertime, we often make it without meat, with even more added fresh herbs such as dill and mint. In the winters, we add different types of meat, sometimes chicken or turkey, beef, quite often with pork (that is fattier and goes well with beany-type stuff) and sometimes meatballs too (yummmm) !

The only 'problem' with this dish (and I mean not a problem to Greeks but to non-Greeks) is that when the dish is prepared traditionally, it’s rather mushy and thus difficult to serve to non-Greek or ‘fasolakia’ aficionados who are used to this 'softness'.

All I did here (respectfully I hope) is to reinterpret the dish by respecting the overall flavors but playing around with the textures so that everything still holds itself together (and remains quite presentable) without getting too soft, too tender, too mushy, too liquid.

I prepare everything in steps, the meat, the marinade, the tomato sauce, the roasted vegetables, mix it all up together and there you go !

Get it ? Got it ? Good ! . . . :)

p.s.: a little funny story because it's Friday the 13th today, for Greeks the whole superstitious day thing is actually Thursday the 12th, LOL !

greek green beans & beef stew

13.01.2017

4-6

ingredients

meat :

850 grams beef chuck (cut into cubes)
10 grams (2 tsp) salt
2 grams (½ tsp) ground pepper
5 grams (1 tsp) baking soda (to tenderize the meat)

marinade :

360 ml (1½ cups) white wine (or beer)
50 grams (1/3 cup) finely diced celery
50 grams (1/3 cup) finely diced onion
50 grams (1/3 cup) finely diced carrot
10 grams (1 tbsp) finely diced garlic
2 bay leaves
15 ml (1 tbsp) worcestershire sauce
15 ml (1 tbsp) balsamic vinegar
optional : 15 ml (1 tbsp) liquid beef concentrate (viandox)

for searing the meat :

25 grams (3 tbsp) flour
45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil

tomato sauce base :

720 ml (3 cups) tomato purée
400 grams (1¾ cups) crushed tomatoes
100 grams (½ cup) grated onion
20 grams (1½ tbsp) crushed garlic
5 grams (2 tbsp) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil
240 ml (1 cup) of the wine marinade (without the diced vegetables)
2 bay leaves
5 grams (1½ tbsp) dried aromatic herbs (oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme)
5 grams (1 tsp) salt
1 gram (¼ tsp) ground pepper

roasted vegetables :

750 grams green beans (ends removed)
250 grams baby potatoes (about 15 unpeeled)
250 grams peeled pearl onions (about 15 peeled)
25 grams (3 cloves) thickly sliced garlic
75 ml (5 tbsp) olive oil for roasting vegetables separately (or 3 tbsp+2 tbsp)
15 grams (3 tsp) salt (or 2 tsp+1 tsp)

garnish :

125 grams (15 whole) cherry tomatoes (as decorative garnish)
7 ml (½ tbsp) olive oil
1 gram (¼ tsp) salt
2,5 grams (1 tbsp) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

instructions

to prepare the marinade, combine the white wine, diced vegetables, bay leaves, liquid condiments and set asid
cut up the room-temperature beef into smaller cubes, sprinkle with the salt & ground pepper and baking soda, let rest 15 minutes and place inside the marinade for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator
when the beef is ready, remove from the marinade, shake off the excess liquid, filter the wine marinade and reserve and discard the diced vegetables
heat up 3 tbsp olive oil in a very large casserole, toss and coat the beef cubes with 3 tbsp flour and fry up at high heat for several minutes until browned, then remove the beef and residual sauce from the casserole, reserve and wipe it down
add more olive oil to the casserole and simmer the grated onion, crushed garlic and chopped parsley until translucent, then add the tomato purée, crushed tomatoes, filtered wine marinade, bay leaves, parsley, salt, pepper and dried herbs, bring to a boil, add the meat cubes, reduce heat to low and very gently simmer (with a cover) for 1 hour before adding the vegetables
preheat the oven to 210°C
prepare the vegetables by peeling the pearl onions, washing the baby potatoes and thickly slicing the garlic, toss everything with 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp salt and place on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and roast for 15 minutes
add the roasted vegetables to the simmering tomato and beef casserole, stir well, increase the heat slightly and cover again and let simmer for 30 minutes until you add the roasted green beans
trim the ends from the green beans, toss with 3 tbsp olive oil and 2 tsp salt and roast for 15 minutes then remove from the oven, add the green beans to the tomato, beef, potato and onion casserole, increase the heat slightly again, gently stir, cover and let simmer for another 30 minutes
while the oven is still hot, toss the cherry tomatoes with some olive oil, salt and chopped parsley and roast for 5 minutes, then remove and reserve as garnish when serving
after the initial 2 hours of simmering, stir the stew, taste and adjust by adding more fresh or dried herbs and/or salt and pepper, and add some water if too thick or olive oil if too thin, lower heat to very low, cover again and let simmer extremely gently for 1 more hour until everything is tender yet the vegetables are still firm enough to retain their shapes
serve the dish warm and garnished with a few roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh parsley and some slices of toasted country bread (and perhaps some crumbled feta cheese too).

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greek green beans & beef stew

4-6

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greek green beans & beef stew

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