Spanish Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Stew the vegetables
Dice the potatoes and onions.
Stew them with the butter and very little water.
When they are tender, add the tomatoes cut in slices and cook the vegetables 10 minutes longer.
Add milk and simmer
Add seasoning, the milk and vermicelli, and a little more water if necessary.
Let the whole simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes (in the method)
- Their starch softens into the stew and helps thicken the liquid around the vegetables.
- Onions (in the method)
- They soften while stewing and add sweetness and savoury depth to the base.
- Butter (in the method)
- It adds richness and carries flavour through the vegetables as they stew.
- Tomatoes (in the method)
- They add acidity and moisture that brightens the stew and keeps it from drying out.
- Milk
- It adds creaminess and mellows the tomato acidity in the finished stew.
- Vermicelli (in the method)
- Its starch swells in the liquid, giving the stew more body.
The step that matters
Stewing the potatoes and onions with very little water. With little liquid, the vegetables can scorch or stick to the base of the pan before they become tender. Keeping the heat low and the pan covered lets steam cook them evenly, and adding water only when needed prevents burning.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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