Tomaticán

Insecure and inexperienced cooks often overcomplicate simple recipes. Less is more, if you do the “less” well. That said, I remember cooking this stew for friends in Viña del Mar, Chile one time and being slightly scared that there was almost nothing to the recipe. How was I going to create a good impression and a good meal when I was doing little more than putting beef and tomatoes in the oven together? I worried for no good reason. It turned out so well that even I was surprised that there wasn’t more to it. The secret? Use good tomatoes and fresh herbs. Canned tomatoes will do if you have to, but if you can’t get fresh herbs, do a different recipe. There is no point cooking one portion of a stew like this. I make more and freeze, which gives 4 meals for the effort of one.

For 4

2lb stewing beef, cubed

peeled and roughly chopped tomatoes

Chopped onion

Handful of parsley

Handful of cilantro/coriander

Potatoes (red or purple are fun if you can find them, otherwise normal white ones are fine)

Salt and pepper

Brown the beef in a pan, ideally the one you are going to cook the stew in. when it’s done, return it to the pan and cover with tomatoes. I haven’t put an amount as it depends totally on what sort you are using. I’d guess 2-3 cans if you are using cans, or if you are lucky enough to live somewhere where you can get cheap, good tomatoes then maybe 5 or 6 large ones. Don´t use the horrible ones that are full of water. The chopped tomatoes should just cover the meat. Do not add water. Chop the parsley and coriander and add to the mixture. This should be cooked for 3 hours on 180C (a medium oven). 3 hours seems to be the magic number with stewing beef. You should be able to cut it with a spoon. 1 hour to 90 minutes before the end, add potatoes. These should be either very small new potatoes, or larger ones that have been cut into 1 cm disks. If the whole new potatoes are thicker then add them 90 minutes before the end. They should be cooked, but not mush. Add the amount you think will be eaten and that will fit in the pan. If you plan on freezing most of the stew, then you might only add 1 portion of potatoes. I feel they fall apart when you freeze and defrost them. Before serving add salt and pepper (never add salt to a slow cooking stew until the end as the concentration of the fluids can make what was ideal when you started end up being too salty)

This serves 4, but I freeze three portions in glad ware/tupperware. Often I do not freeze the potato and then serve with rice and a green salad.