I love recipes that introduce me to a new ingredient that I have never, ever heard of, and this was one of them. This is from an article published about 6 years ago in the New York Times by Nigella Lawson, and I think I have had the clipping bouncing around in my “need to make this recipe one day” file ever since. (There are recipes in there from the last century. So many recipes, so little time!!) I loved the whole idea of spiced beef cooking in red wine, I loved the idea of serving it on a bed of polenta (which is what we Northerners call it. The southern husband calls it grits.) The thing that kept kicking it to the back of the line was this one ingredient that sounded important, but mysterious and hard to find.
Ever heard of star anise?
Me neither.
Why I decided all of the sudden last weekend to figure this out — who knows? — but I called my source of all culinary information and it went like this.
Me: Hi Mom — do you know what star anise is?
Mom: Of course. It’s a spice.
Me: You don’t have any, do you?
Mom: Of course. Do you need some?
I guess I am the only one without some star anise hanging around, and I felt the need to have my own jar of it, because you never know when you are going to need some star anise. At least now I knew it was a spice and not some exotic vegetable. A few hours later there I was in the spice aisle at Fairway with my very own jar. It is definitely a handsome little spice.
And smells just like licorice. Yum, yum…this was starting to feel good. The stew itself is a pretty basic recipe with a few excellent wrinkles to it. You start with a base of chopped carrots and onion — but you also add some chopped bacon with it. Obviously there is the red wine part — it simmers in the red wine for most of the cooking time. And of course there is the star anise which gives it a delicious sweet and spicy touch. I followed Nigella’s directions to the letter and served it on top of a nice little pool of polenta, which was just PERFECT.
So there you have it, a Sunday dinner that is both comforting and just a little exotic. Let me know if you need to borrow any star anise….
SPICED BEEF IN RED WINE SAUCE, from Nigella Lawson
Ingredients Directions
framedcooks
framedcooks
framedcooks
framedcooks
framedcooks
framedcooks
framedcooks
framedcooks
framedcooks
I have some star anise hanging out in my cabinet right now
This meal looks great! I love that it's served over polenta…yum!
I bet this is particularly good on a snowy day.
I have never tried anise in a stew, only in baking.
I have to go buy some now .
Try making a stew with star anise, a few cloves and cinnamon. The aroma will fill the house!
K
So I made the recipe last night. Went to store after work, bought what I needed, got home and started on it right away. Couldn’t find the leeks at the grocery store, so went without, only used one onion. The pic above shows the carrots as large chunks, I bet that would have been good, I put the carrots in the food processor. No where did it mention that the bacon should be fried, but I figured raw bacon in my food processor would be a disaster, so I fried it and put it in. I had thought early on that the two hour simmer could be lessened, however, after 30 minutes of simmer, the broth still had a strong wine flavor along with the other flavors that hadn’t fused together yet. Two hours later, about 8:30pm, the dish was ready, it was SO good! Next time I make it I will find those leeks, and probably use two onions, and one less anise star, and either shred the beef or cut it into smaller pieces. I also added mushrooms and more beef stock flavor the last 30 minutes of simmering. I didn’t have a flameproof casserole dish, so I just used a fry pan and a pot. Labor intensive, but very tasty meal, well worth it if you have the time!
I’m so glad you liked it! It’s definitely a labor of love – I tend to save it for Sunday afternoons…but I love it. You do put the bacon in the food processor raw(it cooks up in step 3), and you’re right that I let the carrots chop a little coarser than the rest – I put them in the food processor after the other stuff had had a few whirls around. But sounds like you customized it just fine for you, and that’s what counts! I’m glad you gave it a try.