Beef Ragout With Sweet Potatoes

Total Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 2 lbs stewing beef, boneless, sliced into 1 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 3 tablespoons butter, divided
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock or 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 1 1/2 cups 35% cream
• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• fresh coriander or parsley, chopped

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350°f.
• 2 in a bowl, combine beef, half of the flour and 1/2 teaspoons salt. in a large ovenproof pot, melt one-third of butter over medium-high heat; brown beef in three batches, adding more of the butter as necessary; transfer to a bowl.
• 3 reduce heat to medium-low; add remaining butter to pot. cook garlic, onions, celery, bay leaves, cumin, cinnamon and cayenne, stirring for about 3 minutes or until starting to soften. stir in remaining flour.
• 4 stir in beef stock and cream; increase heat to high and bring to a boil scraping up bits stuck to pot. stir in beef and accumulated juices.
• 5 cover and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. meanwhile, peel sweet potatoes; cut into 3/4 inch cubes. stir into pot; cover and bake 30 minutes longer or until potatoes are almost tender. uncover and bake for 15 minutes or until beef is fork-tender and sauce is slightly thickened. discard bay leaves. stir in lemon juice and season to taste with salt. serve sprinkled with coriander.
• 6 note: stew can be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. reheat over medium-low heat until piping hot. stir in lemon juice and salt after reheating.