There are those that like their meat medium rare, well done or even blue, there are others that prefer to wait for several hours and feast on butter soft morsels infused with the flavours from ‘the very long cook’.
The short cooked meats align themselves with expensive cuts, “barbies” and alcohol-infused dinner parties outside on the patio in summer. The long cook using more “cost-effective” (cheaper) cuts are a winter family affair, warming cockles with hearty sighs.
The USA along with the Southern Hemisphere with its infinite open spaces have accommodated the growth of the BBQ culture where most have a backyard or large balcony and copious amounts of air to pollute. Meanwhile up north in the ‘old countries’ where many still live in pokey apartments, there is no room or even possibility to smoke each other out and folk must suffice with creative long cooks in the form of goulash, soups and stews.
The meaning of ‘assado’ is ‘to roast’ in the various Latin based languages, which means a much longer cook than to grill or BBQ or braise. Usually, it’s the top rib / spare rib cut of beef also known as flanken, suited to long roasts, cholents, stews and soups.
This recipe is cooked with red wine and goes great with basmati rice or potato and any green of your choice.
Long Cook Assado in Red Wine
Ingredients
- Beef assado without bones x 2 kg
- All purpose flour x ¼ cup
- Coarse salt x tablespoon
- Coarse black pepper generous pinch
- Coarse pepper
- Bottle of red wine
- Chicken stock or water 500 ml
- Garlic cloves peeled x 6-8
- Carrots x 4
- Onions x 2
- 2-3 leaves of sage
- Sprig of fresh thyme
- Sprig of fresh rosemary
- Smaller can of crushed tomato
- Shluk of canola oil for browning and closing the meat.
Method
Cut the beef into large cubes (2 inch square), set aside. Peel and cut the carrots into large pieces and onions into quarters, set aside.
Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a separate bowl, toss/mix the meat well in the flour ensuring it is well coated. In a larger pot, on a higher heat, pour in a shluk of canola oil; when hot add the floured meat, turning with tongs, ensure that all six sides are browned and sealed. If you need to add more oil to close all the meat in more than one go then please do. Set aside.
Sautee the onions, carrots, garlic and sage in the same pot, then:
Preheat the oven to 200°C. To the pot, add the red wine, chicken stock, rosemary, thyme, and crushed tomato; scrape the bottom of the pot and mix, add the assado meat, bring to a boil.
Cover the pot tightly either with a lid or aluminium foil, cook in the hot oven for one hour, then reduce the heat to 175°C for two more hours.
You can either eat as is or remove the meat and veggies to sit in a covered bowl and place the pot back on the stove to reduce for a nice gravy.
Goes especially well with rice.
Jerusalem’s winter is unrelenting this year, three months of bone-chilling weather, NASA scientists say we are in a period of solar minimum which means the sun has a smooth complexion without spots and most of the northern hemisphere is eating a never-ending selection of soups and stews just to stay warm.
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