Other than beef stew or daube, I don’t usually cook that much stew-type beef, but this caught my eye, and the green beans were a nice twist. It’s not a quick dish, you need a couple of hours, but it’s easy and only uses 1 pot. Serves 4-6:
Beef and Green Bean Tagine
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 medium onions, diced (about 3 cups)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 small pinch saffron (optional)
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
- 2½ pounds boneless beef chuck or other stewing beef, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2-inch pieces
- ¾ cup vegetable or beef stock, or water, plus more if needed
- 1 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, finely chopped, plus more for serving
- 1½ pounds green beans, trimmed
- 2 to 3 tablespoons seeded and finely chopped preserved lemon (about ½ lemon), plus more to taste
- ½ cup pitted Castelvetrano or Kalamata olives, for serving
Heat oil in a large pot over medium-low. Add onions, garlic, turmeric, ginger, saffron (if using), ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to soften, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the beef, adjust heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is lightly browned, about 7 minutes.
Pour in the stock (or water) and cilantro and bring to a boil over high heat.
Cover the pot, adjust heat to low and simmer for about 1½ hours, until the beef is tender. When pressed with a fork it should feel soft but not fall apart.
Stir in the green beans and preserved lemon, adjust heat to high and bring to a boil. The green beans should be partially submerged in the liquid; add stock or water as needed. Turn down to low, cover and simmer until the green beans are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure the beans cook evenly.
Taste and add more preserved lemon or salt as necessary. Garnish with olives and more cilantro. Serve and enjoy!
My verdict:
When I first saw this recipe, I thought it would be a great use for beef cheeks. Sadly, the butcher that always has them was closed twice and jammed the third time I went by. I found some stew beef and decided to try using that. Mistake. The tagine tasted just great, but the beef was chewy–very, very chewy. This would probably work well with something like short ribs, lamb shanks, even beef cheeks—anything that benefits from a long slow braise.
The recipe calls for cooking the onions first and then browning the beef. To get the beef nicely browned, I cooked it first and added the onions and spices after the meat had been browned, so they wouldn’t burn. Once the beans were added, I only cooked them for about 10 minutes, so they still had a faint crunch, traditionally, they’re usually cooked until they’re soft, so figure the whole 20 minutes.
We served it over couscous, pita bread, or rice would be fine too.
