Moroccan Beef Stew

From a recipe on Epicurious from Bon Apetit magazine.

• 2.5lbs boneless chuck roast, cut into bite-sized pieces
  
• 2 small onions
  
• 3 cloves garlic
  
• 1tbsp paprika
  
• 1tbsp garam masala
  
• 1tsp cumin
  
• 1/2tsp turmeric
  
• 1/2tsp cayenne
  
• 1c red wine
  
• 1/2c vermouth
  
• 2c beef stock (we used bouillon)
  
• 1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes
  
• 1.5c raisins (original calls for golden, we used normal raisins)
  

In a pot, add some olive oil and saute the chuck roast until it's no longer pink - about 8 minutes. It's a lot of meat. I kind of felt like I was butchering a whole side of beef. Anyway, when it's done, put it in a separate bowl (aside). Then add to the pot the onions and garlic and a little more oil. Saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add all the spices and the wine + vermouth. Stir well until combined, then bring to a boil and reduce to a glaze. In the mean time, you can add the other ingredients to the bowl with the beef. When the wine is reduced to a glaze, just add the beef and all the other ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let it simmer until the sauce is thickened and beef tender, about an hour to 1.25 hours. Ours was reducing very quickly, so I covered it so the beef could tenderize a little longer. I think this was a wise decision.

Thoughts: We served this over rice, though the original recipe recommends serving it over couscous. It was DELICIOUS. Really amazing. It took a little extra salt at the end to make it perfect, but I would be careful to add this at the END because your stock may be saltier or less salty than ours was at the time. Also, we thought maybe another 1/2c raisins wouldn't be out of the question, though the recipe scarcely needed it. In the future, this could be a perfect recipe for a slow cooker... but we don't have such a thing right now, so. One other thing - apparently our entire floor of the building was permeated with the delicious smells of spices and so forth last night, and this morning our apartment still kind of smells really good.

Disaster Index: 1/10