1. MARINADE
Wash the meat, get rid of larger pieces of fat, cut into 2-3cm chunks and put into the bowl. Pour red wine, add peeled and crushed garlic, 4 cloves and cinnamon stick. Mix, cover the bowl with foil and put in the fridge for at least 10 hours to marinade.
2. ONION AND CARROT
In the pan, dissolve 1 tbsp of lard or clarified butter and throw in two sliced onions, add a pinch of sugar and salt, and fry on medium heat for about 5 minutes to slightly brown the onion, stirring occasionally. Then, put fried onions into a pot, and add about half of tbsp of fat and carrots cut into a thick slices or cubes. Fry it for about 4 minutes and also put into a pot.
3. MEAT PRE-FRYING
Drain meat from the marinade. Transfer the marinade and spices together into the same pot. Put the mixture into a small fire. Dissolve the rest of the fat on the pan (about 1.5 tbsp), set the fire to the maximum and when it warms up well, throw in the meat. Remember that the meat chunks should not touch each other. Fry the meat on each side until it is brown, do not mix it, just flip it. If juices from the meat go out, pour them into a pot with marinade to let the meat fry, not to stew. When the meat becomes browned, transfer it into a boiling mixture in a pot (the liquid must be hot) and add some coarsely ground pepper.
4. STEWING
Stew the beef under lid on a low heat, for about 1.5-2h until the meat is delicate, stirring occasionally and possibly adding water or beef broth, if most of the liquid evaporates in the process. About 20 minutes before the end of cooking, put out cinnamon stick and cloves. Add more coarsely ground pepper and salt. If you want to sweeten the taste of the wine sauce, add 1 tbsp of honey. Mix and cook until the meat is soft and consistency of the sauce is thick.
SERVING
Serve the stew with a bit of chopped parsley and a slice of fresh, rustic bread. See for yourself, that Keira knows some tempting flavours! Vella Glan!
