Low-Carb Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with a Naartjie Gremolata

It's the gremolata that makes this stew special: a heavenly scent of citrus, parsley and garlic billows up as your face meets the plate. The starring ingredient here is freshly zested naartjie [clementine] peel - a glorious South African flavour that brings such warmth and colour to winter kitchens.

Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with Naartjie, Lemon, Garlic & Parsley Gremolata.
 Bowl by my uncle David Walters, Master Potter of Franschhoek.

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: Simonsig Pinotage 2012.  Go to the
end of the  page for more detail about this pairing.

I'm besotted with naartjies and use them with abandon in many dishes, even more so now that I've discovered that they have no impact on my blood sugar. They're one of the only fruits I, as a diabetic, can eat with no fear.  At the end of this post, you'll find links to some of my favourite naartjie recipes.

This nourishing beef & olive stew is easy to make. 

This heartwarming, deep-flavoured stew is easy to make, but it involves several steps, and takes time, as all good stews do.  It will take you about 45 minutes to get the stew on the go - so put on some music and relax into the cooking! After that you can leave the pot on the stove over a very low heat and forget about it for two or three hours.

Please use well-trimmed, dark-red beef shin in this recipe, preferably with the bone in.  Shin is much leaner than other similar stewing cuts, and it dissolves beautifully into melt-in-the-mouth pieces.  You can use boneless shin if you don't fancy finding those fat ivory bangles in your stew, but the bone marrow does add lovely unctuousness to this dish, and the leftovers make good treats for jealous dogs.

A tip: avoid sliced shin that looks as if it has bone dust sprinkled over the meat.  If your butcher can't slice up a shin without splintering the bone, his saw isn't sharp enough, and you must find a better supplier.  The shins I used here come from Woolies - they're on special now.

If anyone in your family doesn't like olives, set aside a portion before you add the olives.

This recipe contains four tablespoons of flour, so it isn't perfect if you're on a punishing low-carb diet. However, this is a piffling amount of carbohydrates split between six to eight people, so I think I can confidently recommend this for anyone on a low-carb or diabetic regime.

Some of the ingredients for this dish: carrots, leeks, beef shin, bacon, garlic,
red wine, chopped tinned tomatoes, olives and naartjie peel. 

Here's an Instagram quick video of my making this dish: http://instagram.com/p/pONolmw4xc/

Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with Naartjie Gremolata

8 (2 kg) bone-in beef shin slices
4 Tbps (60 ml) white flour
salt and milled black pepper
4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
3 Tbps (45 ml) olive oil, for frying
2 large onions
500 g medium carrots
500 g small leeks
2 bay leaves
a large sprig of fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic, peeled
5 Tbsp (75 ml) tomato paste
1 cup (250 ml) dry red wine
2 x 410 g tins tomato-and-onion mix, or chopped tomatoes
1 thumb-sized strip naartjie [clementine] or orange peel
24 Calamata olives, pitted

For the gremolata:
the finely zested rind of 2 small naartjies
the finely zested rind of a lemon or lime
5 Tbsp (75  ml) finely chopped fresh curly parsley
2 small cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated

Trim any small pads of fat off the shin slices. Snip the membrane surrounding the slices here and there so the meat can collapse easily in the pan.  Put the flour on a plate, season generously with salt and pepper and mix well.

Heat a large heavy-based lidded pot over a high flame and fry the bacon bits dry until golden and just crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Press the shin slices - three at a time - into the seasoned flour, and shake to remove the excess. Add the olive oil to the pan and when it is very hot and shimmering - but not yet smoking - add the first three shin slices. Fry for 3 minutes, until nicely golden and caramelised, then turn them over to brown the undersides.  Don't allow the pan to get too fiercely hot, or your stew will have black spots.  Remove the slices from the pan and set aside on a plate. Repeat with the remaining slices.

In the meantime, get the vegetables ready.  Peel the onions and cut them into thick slices, crossways. Do the same with the carrots, cutting them into 2-cm thick slices. Trim the bases of the leeks, remove the green upper parts and slice the white and pale green sections crossways into 4-cm lengths.

When you've finished browning the shin, add the onions, carrots, leeks, bay leaves and thyme sprig to the pan, turn down the heat and sauté for 4-5 minutes, or until the onions are beginning to turn golden.

Gently sauté the veggies in the bacon fat & olive oil.

Finely grate or chop the garlic, and add it into the vegetables along with the tomato paste.  Cook, stirring often, for a minute, without allowing the garlic to burn. Pour in the red wine and deglaze the pan, stirring and scraping to dislodge any golden stickiness.

Turn up the heat and add the tinned tomatoes and the reserved bacon and beef shin. Press the shin pieces deep into the liquid and bring to a fast boil. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Now turn down the heat to its lowest setting. Cover and bubble very gently for 2½ to 3 hours, or until the meat is so soft you can pull it apart with a fork.  Thirty minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the olives.

Check the stew now and then to make sure it isn't sticking on the bottom.  You shouldn't need to add extra liquid, but if the sauce seems too thick, thin it down with a little water.

Just before you serve the stew,  mix together, in a small bowl, the grated naartjie and lemon zest, the chopped parsley and the freshly grated garlic.  Turn off the heat under the stew, and sprinkle with the gremolata.  Alternatively, you can pass the gremolata around the table and let your guests help themselves. [Postscript 15 June 2014: My daughter says not to put too much gremolata on each portion as it can overpower the taste of the stew.]

Serve with hunks of warm crusty bread, or rice, or boiled baby potatoes, or - best of all - creamy mash.

Serves 8 as a main course. 

Wine pairing by Michael Olivier: 

It looks like: ‘Deep Persian carpet red’, say the estate notes. At the edge of the glass the wine shows ruby purple, an indication of its youth.

It smells like: Sweet red berries and cinnamon spice.

It tastes like: Again the red berries. Soft tannins. Sappy with fruit cake spices on the long aftertaste.

More naartjie recipes: 

Slow-Cooked Moroccan-Spiced Beef and Apricot Stew with Naartjie Couscous

Dried Naartjie Peel, and a South African Milk Tart to go under it

Naartjie Mousse in Dark-Chocolate Cups, with Rosemary Flowers

Caramel-Dipped Naartjies on Kebab Sticks

Couscous, Feta & Pea Salad with a Naartjie Dressing

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Naartjie Mousse in Dark-Chocolate Cups, with Rosemary Flowers

'Naartjie', if you're not from these parts, is a South African word for tangerine. Inextricably associated with rugby matches, this well-loved fruit, with its dizzying citrussy perfume and blazing orange skin, is something eagerly to look forward to in winter. Here's a feather-light mousse served in dark-chocolate cups and garnished with fresh rosemary blossoms (which are there to add an interesting ping!).

Naartjie Mousse in Dark-Chocolate Cups, with Rosemary Flowers

You can temper the chocolate (see Cook's notes, below) if you'd like a professional glossy finish and a lovely snap, but you'll need a digital cooking thermometer for this. It's really not necessary, though.

I tried three different methods of making chocolate cups, all of which failed or were very sorry-looking specimens, before someone suggested using balloons. "Duh," said one of my children.

A feather-light mousse in a thin chocolate case.

These chocolate cups are fairly easy to make if you follow the instructions carefully, but do use a good-quality chocolate, not your run-of-the-mill Cadbury's or Nestlé. Also, don't leave the chocolate cups in the fridge for too long, or you'll find it impossible to peel away the balloons.

If you can't find rosemary flowers growing on a bush somewhere, grind up a few fresh or frozen leaves with some caster sugar, using a pestle and mortar, and sprinkle this green dust (see Frozen Rosemary Sugar) over the top of the mousses.

This mousse is based on my recipe for Gin and Lime Mousse. 

Naartjie Mousse in Dark-Chocolate Cups, with Rosemary Flowers

For the chocolate cups:
2 slabs of good-quality dark chocolate
balloons

For the mousse:
5 Tbsp (75 ml) tepid water
1 Tbsp (15 ml) powdered gelatine
3 large free-range eggs
1 cup (250 ml) caster sugar
2 tsp (10 ml) finely grated naartjie zest
½ cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed naartjie juice
2 tsp (10 ml) fresh lemon juice
1 cup (250 ml) single (whipping) cream
a pinch of salt

To top:
shreds of naartjie zest
fresh rosemary flowers, or rosemary 'dust' (see above)

First make the chocolate cups. Place a metal or glass bowl over a pot of simmering water (making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water). Break up the chocolate and put the pieces in the bowl. Allow to melt gently, stirring occasionally. Don't let the chocolate to get too hot: remove it from the heat when there are still a few bits left unmelted.

Cover two plates with baking paper. Tip the chocolate into a deep soup bowl and let it cool for a few minutes. Stir well. Blow up each balloon to about the size of an orange and tie a tight knot. Very lightly spray the outside of each with cooking spray (see Cook's notes, below).  Holding a balloon by the knot, dip it up to its waist in the melted chocolate. Lift the balloon out, turn it upside down and quickly and gently swirl the chocolate to spread it evenly around.

Now place the balloon, upright, on the baking paper. If the chocolate is very liquid, ask someone to hold it upright while the base sets. Repeat with remaining balloons. I suggest you make at least 12, to allow for breakages. Put the plates into the fridge and chill for 10-15 minutes, or until the chocolate is just hard. Now, using a pair of scissors, snip through the necks of the balloons, allow to deflate and gently peel them away. Refrigerate.

Now make the mousse. Put the water into a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatine on the top and set aside to 'sponge' for five minutes. Place in a pan of simmering water - the water should come half-way up the sides of the bowl - and leave until the liquid is clear (about three minutes). Remove the from the heat and cool for a few minutes.

Separate the eggs into two large bowls. To the egg yolks, add the caster sugar. Using a rotary beater or hand-whisk, beat the mixture for a few minutes, or until thick, pale and fluffy. Don't worry if the mixture seems claggy at first: it will soon loosen up. Whisk the naartjie juice and lemon juice into the egg yolk/sugar mixture, a little at a time. Stir in the zest.

Strain the cooled, melted gelatine into the egg mixture and mix well.  Whip the cream to a soft peak and gently fold it into the egg mixture. Place the bowl in the fridge for ten minutes to firm up.

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk - using clean, dry beaters - to a firm peak. Using a large metal spoon, briskly stir a dollop of egg white into the egg-yolk/sugar mixture (this serves to 'slacken' the mix). Now, very gently, fold in the remaining egg white. Pile the mousse into the chocolate shells and chill for two hours, or until set.

Just before serving, sprinkle with naartjie zest and a few fresh rosemary flowers.

Serves 8.

Cook's Notes:

• Don't overbeat the egg whites. If they're too dry, they'll give the mousse a powdery texture. 
• It's not strictly necessary to spray the balloons with cooking spray, but it will help release them if you've left them in the fridge too long. (Yes, I did!)
• If you can't find naartjies, use fresh oranges.
• Be sure to measure the quantity of gelatine exactly. If you have sheet gelatine (which produces a very fine texture), use 6 leaves (weighing 10 grams).
• There are various ways to temper dark chocolate, but this is the way I've found easiest, using a digital cooking thermometer. Melt two-thirds of the chocolate pieces. Don't allow the chocolate to overheat (it should not go above 45ºC).  Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining pieces. Allow to cool, stirring occasionally, until the temperature of the chocolate reaches 28ºC. Now put the bowl back over the pot of simmering water and gently reheat it 31ºC, stirring. (This doesn't take long, so watch the thermometer like a hawk). That's it. More detailed information about tempering chocolate here.
  
  

Naartjie Mousse in Dark-Chocolate Cups

More naartjie recipes from this blog:

- Slow-cooked Moroccan-style Beef and Apricot Stew with Naartjie and Chickpea Couscous

- Couscous, Feta & Pea Salad with Naartjie Dressing 

- Caramel-Dipped Naartjies, on Kebab Sticks


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Slow-Cooked Moroccan-Spiced Beef and Apricot Stew with Naartjie Couscous

This is a deeply savoury, tagine-style stew that needs many hours to cook, but is well worth waiting for. It's a melting, slow-cooked concoction ideal for a frosty winter night, packed with the singing flavours of North Africa.

Slow-Cooked Moroccan-Spiced Beef and Apricot Stew

This is one of the earliest recipes from my blog archive, and one I'd almost forgotten. I've recently resurrected it (the recipe definitely needed some tweaking, showing as it did some signs of an inexperienced hand with spicing) and photographed it, in response to a request from Yuppiechef's Spatula magazine.

The editor of Spatula drew my attention to Eat for the Earth, and asked me to contribute a few of my favourite recipes to this excellent initiative. What's this all about? Please head over to Eat for the Earth to find out more. (Here's a clue: it involves friends and lunch. And possibly a lot of wine.)

Anyway, back to the recipe. Please don't be put off by the prunes in this recipe: they are an essential ingredient, enriching and darkening the sauce as they dissolve. Prunes, like anchovies, are magical ingredients that should never be mentioned when someone says, 'My, this tastes amazing. What did you put in it?'

The couscous: 'naartjie' is the South African word for tangerine. South African naartjies are just delicious, and something of an iconic fruit in our country. You can, of course, use fresh oranges, but tangerines have a special zing and fragrance.

In this recipe, the spicing is done in two stages, for good reason. Because it's a dish that requires long, slow cooking, the spices tend to blur together after a few hours, fading into gentle background music. Half an hour before it's served, the dish is re-spiced and given a smart kick in the pants. Please use really fresh spices.

I've specified shin for this dish - an inexpensive cut that dissolves into the most tender and unctuous meat - but you can use stewing beef of any kind. Ask your butcher. Avoid ordinary chunks of steak ('goulash meat' it's called in South Africa) because it tends to turn stringy and dry after prolonged cooking.You can also make this with a nice cut of pork, such as pork neck, or with cubes of lean lamb.

Slow-Cooked Moroccan-Spiced Beef and Apricot Stew with Naartjie Couscous

For the spicing (added in two stages; please read recipe below)
2 Tbsp (30 ml) ground cinnamon
a generous pinch of saffron threads
2  Tbsp (30 ml) ground cumin
2  Tbsp (30 ml) ground coriander
1  Tbsp (15 ml) turmeric
1  Tbsp (15 ml) ginger

Combine all the spices, and then divide the mixture in half. Set aside.

For the stew: 
4 tsp (20 ml) vegetable oil
4 tsp (20 ml) butter
3 onions, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1.5 kg stewing beef (preferably boneless shin, see notes above), fat and sinew removed, and cubed
2½ cups (625 ml) stock (chicken, beef or vegetable)
1 cup freshly squeezed naartjie or orange juice
1 x 400g tin of Italian tinned tomatoes, chopped
10 prunes, depipped and chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp (10 ml) honey
¾ cup (180 ml) dried apricots, roughly chopped

For the couscous: 
1 x 500g packet couscous
boiling water or stock, according to packet instructions
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
1 Tbsp (15 ml) finely chopped preserved lemon
the finely grated rind and juice of a naartjie or orange
the juice of a lemon
3 Tbsp (45 ml) olive oil
1 Tbsp (15 ml)  cumin
salt and freshly ground pepper

To top:
a handful of flaked, toasted almonds
finely chopped fresh coriander

Put the olive oil and butter into a big pot or pan and place over a high heat. When the oils have just stopped sizzling, turn down the flame a little and add the onions, garlic and ginger, and the set-aside half-quantity of spices (see above). Cook over a moderate heat, stirring often, until the onion softens and begins to turn golden. Don't allow the mixture to burn, which will make it bitter. Using a slotted spoon (so that fat drains back into the pan), remove the onion-spice mixture and set aside. Now turn up the heat and fry the beef, in batches, until it is lightly browned on all sides.

Return the onion mixture to the pan. Pour in the stock and add the naartjie juice, tinned tomatoes and prunes. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, and then immediately turn down the heat. Cover the pot with a tilted lid and turn down the heat to a low setting so that the stew bubbles gently.

Cook for three hours, stirring every now and then. The cooking time depends on the ferocity of your hob, but, as as a general guide: when the sauce is rich and slightly thickened, and the meat is very tender when nudged with a fork, it's time to do the second spicing. Remove the lid, add the remaining spice mix, and stir in the apricots and the honey. Allow the dish to simmer, uncovered, for another thirty minutes.

Twenty minutes before serving, make the couscous: Prepare the couscous according to the packet instructions, using hot water or a good stock.  Fluff up the grains with a fork and mix in the remaining couscous ingredients.  Toss well to combine.

To serve: tip the couscous into big warmed serving dish. Pile the beef stew on top, and top with toasted flaked almonds and a chopped fresh coriander.

Serves 6-8 Print Friendly

Caramel-Dipped Naartjies on Kebab Sticks

Arguably the most famous of South African stadium foods, naartjies (tangerines) have long been associated in this country with watching rugby matches. A bulging bag of naartjies (pronounced 'nar-chees') is what fans take along with them to watch their provincial side - or the famous Springboks - in action. To thwart no-alcohol rules, naartjies are sometimes spiked in advance, using a hypodermic syringe, with brandy, vodka, witblits or mampoer (potent moonshine, often made with peaches).

Naartjies have no association, as far as I know, with soccer matches, but my series of scrumptious soccer snacks would not be complete without a mention of this most delicious winter fruit.

Caramel is always tricky, and it doesn't like moisture, so there are three important points to bear in mind when making these. First, the fruit segments must be dried out overnight, which will allow excess surface moisture to evaporate, and make the skin slightly papery.

Second, the segments must be dipped to only five-sixths of their length, so that the caramel comes nowhere close to the hole where the kebab stick has been pushed in.

Finally, please note that the caramel remains hard for a maximum of 35 minutes (and I tested these at sea level, with relatively high humidity), after which it begins to soften.

This caramel does not set glass-hard, but cools to a nice crack with a tiny bit of chew. This recipe is adapted from a recipe for toffee apples from Inspired by Sugar by Lesley Faull (1965), which is one of the most treasured items in my collection of vintage cookbooks.

Caramel-Dipped Naartjies on Kebab Sticks

6 large naartjies [tangerines, clementines]
1 cup (250 ml) light brown sugar
2 Tbsp (30 ml) golden syrup
1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice
1 Tbsp (15 ml) water

Peel the naartjies and divide them into segments very carefully, making sure not to puncture their skins.  Spread the segments on a large plate and place, uncovered, in the fridge overnight. Push a slim wooden kebab stick into the end of each segment.

Gently heat the caramel ingredients in heavy saucepan, stirring now and then until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring to the boil and cook briskly, without stirring, until the caramel reaches 155°C . If you don't have a sugar thermometer, place a droplet of the caramel into iced water: it should snap cleanly in half.  Remove the caramel from the heat.

 Dip five-sixths of each segment into the caramel, avoiding the hole where the stick has punctured the flesh.  Lean the sticks up against a plate or upturned box, and allow to dry. If the caramel becomes too thick during the dipping process, gently warm it over a low flame.

Serve within half an hour.

Makes about 40.

Try some of the other recipes from this series:

Mini Pita Breads with Spicy Meatballs and Hoummous
Mini Bunny Chow with Butter Chicken 
Cape-Malay-Style Curried Lamb Kebabs with Apricots
Potato, Cheese and Chilli Phyllo Triangles
Steak Kebabs with a Monkey-Gland Dipping Sauce Print Friendly

Couscous, Feta & Pea Salad with a Naartjie Dressing

This spicy winter salad is perfumed with the wonderful zest of fresh naartjies, which is what we call tangerines or clementines here in South Africa. Pour the dressing over the couscous while it is still quite warm, and the heat will release all its aromatic flavours.

 If you like big warm spicy winter salads, try my Moroccan-Spiced Carrot & Chickpea Salad, or my North African Chicken & Couscous Salad.

Couscous, Feta & Pea Salad with a Naartjie Dressing

For the dressing: 
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
juice of two naartjies [tangerines]
juice of half a lemon
3 Tbsp (45 ml) white wine vinegar
½ tsp (2.5 ml) dry mustard powder
½ tsp (2.5 ml) paprika
1½ tsp (7.5 ml) cumin
1 tsp (5 ml) coriander powder
¾ cup (180 ml) olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad: 
3 cups (750 ml) couscous
2 Tbsp (30 ml) concentrated chicken or vegetable stock, or similar
boiling water for the cousous
1 x 400 g tin chickpeas, drained
finely grated zest of two naartjies
2 cups (500 ml) frozen peas, microwaved or boiled until just cooked
6 courgettes, thinly sliced
4 carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
a big handful fresh parsley, chopped

To garnish:
½ cup (125 ml) finely chopped mint and/or coriander
salt and pepper
3 'wheels' (about 210 g) feta cheese
2 Tbsp (30 ml) toasted sesame seeds, or a handful of toasted flaked almonds

 Place all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk together well. Set aside. Make up the couscous according to the packet instructions, adding the stock to the boiling water. Fluff with a fork to separate the grains, and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Tip into a large mixing bowl, and add the all the remaining salad ingredients, reserving half a cup of grated carrot. Pour over the dressing and toss again. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now tip the salad onto a big, flat platter. Crumble the feta in a ring around the edge of the bowl, pile the remaining grated carrot in the middle and scatter generously with parsley and sesame seeds.

Serves 6-8


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