Estofado con Setas - Stew with Mushrooms

Castilla-Leon is the region where this lovely veal stew originates. It is still commoon for many people in northern and central Spain to go to the countryside or to their family’s hometowns to gather different types of wild mushrooms. (Mushrooms start appearing as the weather turns damp in October.) They bring prepare traditional dishes with them, like this stew, which are very typical dishes to see on the Spanish table.

This recipe calls for veal - popular and plentiful in markets all over Spain. If veal is not available to you, use beef stew meat. Stew meat will require longer cooking time to become tender.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 1/4 lbs veal, cubed (or beef stew meat)
• 3/4 lb. mushrooms
• 1 large green pepper
• 1 15 oz. can peas (or frozen peas)
• 8 oz. beef broth
• 8 oz. white wine
• 4 oz. dry sherry
• 1 sprig of thyme for garnish

Preparation:

Serves 4.

Note on Mushrooms: We do not recommend that you gather and eat wild mushrooms. That is best left to the experts. For this recipe, use any variety of mushroom that your local grocery store carries.

Peel and chop the onion and carrots. Wash and remove the seeds from the pepper. Chop pepper into pieces. Clean and coarsely chop the mushrooms.

Remove any excess fat from the meat. In a large pot, heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the meat cubes and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside.

In the same pot where you browned the meat, sauté the onion, carrots and peppers. When the onion and peppers are browned, add the meat back into the pot and stir. Pour in the sherry and white wine. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the beef broth and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Test the meat for tenderness.

Add the mushrooms and peas. Simmer for 15 more minutes. Pour stew into a pot to serve or into individual bowls and garnish with fresh thyme.

Serve in shallow bowls with patatas fritas - fried potatoes.

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