Carne Guisada, #2 style

Carne guisada, is Spanish for “stewed meat”, but it is tastefully so much more. Thick, delicious and hearty, there are many variations on the dish depending on where you are and who's making it. Here's a good solid slow-simmered version that always comes out tasty, and it's easy to remember. Pretty much 2 of everything...

Ingredients
2 lb chuck or similar, trimmed, 1" cubes
2 T flour in gallon zipper bag
2 T vegetable oil
2 each small onions (or 1 medium), sliced into 1/4" strips
2 each poblano peppers, stemmed, seeded and sliced into 1/4" strips about 2-3" long
2 each roasted red peppers, stemmed, seeded and sliced into 1/4" strips about 2-3" long
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans beef stock
2 T chili powder
2 T cumin
2 T double-concentrated tomato paste, or 4 T regular tomato paste

salt & pepper to taste


Method
Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to a heavy Dutch oven, and turn the heat to medium. While this is heating, trim approximately 2 lbs of chuck, loin or other roast-type beef of all fat and silver skin, and cut into approximately 1" cubes.

Add 2 tablespoons of AP flour to a gallon plastic zipper bag. Next, about half-pound at a time, add the cubes to the bag and shake to completely coat lightly with flour. Add these coated cubes to the hot oil, turning to brown on all sides. You don't want to add too much at once or the oil temperature will drop.

Repeat this with the remaining meat cubes.


While meat is browning, chop up the vegetables as described above. Once all the meat has all been browned, toss the vegetables in to the Dutch oven and cook until softened. Below are the onions and poblano peppers; the red peppers and garlic haven't made it in the pool yet:


Once the vegetables have softened, it's time to add the meat back in and stir it all together. Next, you add the beef stock, remaining spices and the tomato paste. Stir well to incorporate all, then reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for two hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so. When meat reaches desired tenderness, season with salt & pepper to taste. You can also continue to simmer over low heat to make the sauce thicker if you desire.


You end up with a product that is rich, hearty and yet not too spicy. You can always jack the heat up in your own preferred method. I like to eat my carne guisada in flour tortillas for tacos, with some fresh cilantro and hot sauce as toppers. On can also serve it up on a plate with Spanish rice and refried beans for a nice Tex-Mex meal.