Spezzatino- Italian Beef Stew
Translated spezzatino is a stew, but I don’t think that description really does this justice. It’s actually more of a hearty main dish meal which doesn’t contain as much liquid as a stew, but definitely has enough of it to spoon over some buttered egg noodles. Spezzatino is one of my favorites ( I feel like I say that a lot). I use beef stew meat and whatever type of potatoes I have on hand. I try to cut my potatoes about the same size as the beef so everything will be cooked through at about the same time. This does take some time to cook, but that will also depend of the cut of beef you use. Sometimes, I will buy a top round or bottom round roast when they are on sale and just cube that up for this recipe. This dish does not take long to put together. Once everyone is in the pan you just let it go low and slow. It’s easy enough to get going after school and be ready for dinner.
Like so many Italian recipes, there are many variations of this one floating around. Mine is simple, classic, meat & potatoes fare. As I mentioned, I serve this with egg noodles tossed in butter and salt. Add a simple salad and you have an incredibly satisfying meal without too much effort!
Spezzatino- Italian Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat cubed
- 1 1/2 pounds potatoes washed, peeled & cubed
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth, beef broth or water
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Cut your onion and potatoes.
- In a very large saute pan heat olive oil over medium heat.
- Once the onions get translucent , add the beef and some salt & pepper. Cook the beef in an even layer browning the meat on both sides.
- Once the beef has some good color, add the tomato paste and mix.
- Sprinkle the meat with the flour and mix.
- Add the potatoes and give everything a mix.
- Add the dried oregano and salt & pepper.
- Add the wine and broth and stir. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook util the meat and potatoes are tender- about an hour. Check on it often and give it a stir. If the liquid is reducing too quickly, add more broth or water 1/2 cup at a time.
- Serve with buttered egg noodles.
