Beef with Prunes and Red Wine

👨‍🍳 Method

To assemble

1. 1
   Heat the oil in a wide pot and brown the meat until golden on all sides. Remove to a plate.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveWide, shallow pot

   💡Brown the meat in batches, without crowding: in a crowded pot it stews in its own juices instead of searing.

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
2. 2
   Add the onion to the oil left in the wide pot and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStoveWide, shallow pot

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Add the garlic and fry 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
4. 4
   Add the cinnamon and fry 30 seconds, until fragrant.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
5. 5
   Add the tomato paste and fry 2 minutes, stirring.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
6. 6
   Add the wine, stock, prunes and thyme and bring to a boil.

   Stove
7. 7
   Return the meat to the pot and season with salt and black pepper.
8. 8
   Turn down to low, cover and simmer 1½–2 hours, until the meat soft.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
9. 9
   Serve with white rice.