2022 Vuelta - Stage 14: Montoro to Sierra de la Pandera.
The riders are still in Andalucia! They now are actually traversing in a clockwise manner up in the mountainous regions for the next two days. Then they will scoot off to western Spain on Monday (rest day) for one last stage in Andalucia and then they enter the foreboding region named Extremadura. In reading a new book I picked up over vacation, I’ve been learning more about the regional ingredients and tendencies of various regions within Spain, all historically based off of climate, farming, water availability and even impacts from war.
The South is rich in vegetables, grains, and has pastures for cattle. Today features all three. It’s also the first time I ever used a ring-mold to plate a dish. It felt weird and antiquated, but it helped put the beef on stage for this dish. This meal is a straight-forward celebration of beef, rice, and onion. The whisky sauce helps tie everything together, the rice is buttery, and the beef…is just straight beef flavor, very reminiscent of when I went to Solociccia in Chianti on our honeymoon last fall.
Beef in Whiskey Sauce adapted from Spain: The Cookbook, Simone and Inés Ortega
The original recipe calls for veal. Unless you’ve won the lottery, you don’t want to know how much 3.25 lbs of veal costs, let alone spend it. I subbed in sirloin, only because chuck or brisket wasn’t available. You can use either of those cuts. Sirloin can work, but it doesn’t have sufficient fat for the long cook.
3.25 lbs of chuck roast or brisket
2 onions
4 carrots, peeled and halved crosswise
Bay leaf
⅓ cup dry sherry or white wine
1 cup of rice
1 tbsp flour
¼ cup whiskey
Butter
Parsley
Trim any sinew from the beef and chop into rough chunks. Season with kosher salt and black pepper and add to a large dutch oven. Slice 1 onion in half and add to the pot along with the carrots, bay leaf, wine, and a heavy pinch of salt and black pepper. Cover everything with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off any foam from the top as it boils the first few minutes.
Once the foaming subsides, cover and lower the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 90 minutes.
While the stew cooks away, bring a medium-sized pot of water, with a pinch of salt, to a boil and cook the rice (as you would pasta) until just tender. Drain, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and allow to drain fully. Reserve.
Once the beef has cooked, remove with a slotted spoon to a dish. Pour the stock into a bowl through a fine-mesh strainer. Discard the solids. Reserve the broth.
Melt 2 tbsp butter with 2 tbsp oil over medium-low heat. Mince the other onion and sauté it in the butter and oil, with a pinch of salt, until beginning to soften, about 10 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Then, pour in the whiskey.
Gradually stir in 3 cups of the reserved broth (store the remaining broth for another use) and cook until simmering and thickened, about 10-15 minutes.
Once thickened, add in the reserved beef and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp butter in the rice pot until melted. Stir in the reserved rice to heat through.
To plate, portion some rice into a ring mold (optional). Top with beef and sauce and garnish with minced fresh parsley.
Serve with whiskey, or if you’re feeling frisky, my Smoky Spanish Old Fashioned! ______________________________ Copyright 2022, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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