Empanada Filling (Beef Stew)

By KeyIngredient

This is great as an empanada filling and equally delicious as an independent dish accompanied with creamy mashed potatoes!

The best cut of meat to use for stew is "chuck" or meat from the shoulder area. The meat is tough and the best cuts should contain a lot of marble. Many people "seal" meat in a frying pan before adding it to their stew to help retain the juices, however, it's a stew! We recommend not searing the meat and letting the juices from the meat mingle with the sauce.

If you are serving the stew as a stew, cook it for 2.5 hours so that it retains some liquid. If you are using it for empanadas or other pasties, cook for another hour as it will need to be fairly dry.

Ingredients

• 6-8 cloves garlic
• 2 onions
• 1.5 carrots
• 1/2 eggplant
• 4 celery stick
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 beef stock cubes
• 1 cup water
• 4.5 lbs beef
• 1/2 cup red wine
• dried paprika
• dried basil
• dried oregano
• dried chimichurri
• salt & pepper
• oyster sauce

Preparation

Step 1

Chop vegetables into small cubes and trim the meat of excess skin & fat before dicing into bite size cubes.

Add some vegetable oil to a large saucepan on medium heat and chop onions and garlic and cook together in a large saucepan on medium heat for 5 minutes or until they start to brown.

Add a pinch of salt and pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of paprika to the onions and garlic, mix well and let it cook on medium heat for another 2-3 minutes.

Add the chopped carrots, eggplant and celery with the onions and garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes. Once ingredients start to soften, add another pinch of salt & pepper and 1/2 tsp of basil, oregano, paprika and dried chimichurri herbs. Stir well and let cook for another 3-5 minutes. If it looks too dry add a little more oil.

Add diced meat to the saucepan and cook until the meat is sealed, add chopped tomatoes, beef stock cubes and a cup of water. Mix all ingredients together and add another pinch of salt & pepper and 1/2 tsp of basil, oregano, paprika and dried chimichurri herbs.

Lower the heat to simmer and put the lid on. Return to stir every 25-30 minutes. After an hour, add half cup of red wine, stir and put the lid back on.

The final finishing touch after removing the stew off the stove is to add 3 Tbsp of oyster sauce and mix it in with the stew. Enjoy!