Suggested locations:

Black Pepper Stew - Recipe by Amber Guinness

Name: Black Pepper Stew - Recipe by Amber Guinness
Ingredients: 1 kg braising beef; 2 Tbs black peppercorns; 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper; Sea salt; 12 garlic cloves, peeled; 1 Tbs tomato concentrate; 1 rosemary sprig; Handful sage leaves; Few bay leaves; 2 bottlers robust red wine; 1 Tbs olive oil

Serves: 4

Prep:15 mins

Cook:180 mins

Ingredients

1 kg braising beef
2 Tbs black peppercorns
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt
12 garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tbs tomato concentrate
1 rosemary sprig
Handful sage leaves
Few bay leaves
2 bottlers robust red wine
1 Tbs olive oil

Method

Cut the beef into 4 cm chunks. Any intensely tough bits of fat can be trimmed, but remember that the fat is what will make the meat tender after several hours of cooking, so don’t get rid of too much.

Place the beef in a non-reactive bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients.

Add the black peppercorns, ground pepper and a few generous pinches of salt and mix together with your hands. Add the garlic cloves, tomato concentrate and herbs, pour the wine over, then cover and leave to marinate at room temperature for 1 hour (or even overnight in the fridge – just remember to take it out a couple of hours before you begin cooking).

When you’re ready to cook, heat the olive oil in a heavy cast-iron casserole dish.

Use a slotted spoon to fish the meat out of the marinade, into the pan. Seal for 3–5 minutes, turning the meat over every so often with a wooden spoon; no need for the meat to be completely browned. Pour in the marinade liquid (including all the aromatics) and turn the heat down low.

Leave to simmer, uncovered, for 3 hours, checking every 20 minutes or so to make sure the pan isn’t drying out. If it is, add a glass of water or stock. Keep a particularly close eye in the last half hour in case the pan is burning on the bottom.

At the end of 3 hours, the peposo should be dark and the wine reduced almost completely to a thick dark sauce.

Serve hot, spooned over some buttery polenta, or with garlicky rosemary cannellini beans (page 198) and greens. Or a stale piece of bread, as the ancient Tuscans would have done.