Sicilian Beef Ragout

This is the third time I have made this recipe. I followed the instructions and ingredients to a tee the first two times. Turned out great. Yesterday I substituted chicken and white wine. Wow it was every bit as good as the original. Heart healthy and tasty. Either way, highly recommend this recipe.

Lots of big, complex flavor that let the meat shine through - we loved it! The roasted Roma tomatoes were an eyeopener, too: They were sort of tasteless and I didn't have a lot of hope for them, but they were transformed into something rich and sweet. So now I know what to do when that's all that's in the market.

Oh my goodness but this was superb!

I cooked it for 2-1/2 hours as suggested as others, and was delighted with the result. But I should have taken the tomatoes out of the oven at just 2 hours, per the recipe.

An important part of the success of this dish was the fine, even, chopping of the vegetables, so that alliums and olives melded together and diners could not tell whether a given fleck was one or the other -- just that it was all delicious.

From Florence: It can be served in or on whatever dish makes you happy. As for an accompanying starch, I would serve it, if you wish, alongside, not underneath. But no starch is fine, too. Maybe roasted cauliflower instead?

Does anyone know how to adapt this for an Instant Pot?

The dish was very flavorful and the house was filled with the most wonderful aroma while it was cooking. However, I felt the cooking time was too short. I'm cooking at 5000' elevation so I added 1/2 hour to the cooking time and increased the oven temp to 325, but it still wasn't enough. When I make this again I will significantly increase the cooking time for the stew and put the tomatoes in when there are two hours to go.

Pat A: You’ve got a fennel bulb. Anise is an alternate name. I sometimes find those big Sicilian green olives at a grocery that has an olive bar (if there’s one near you). Castelvetrano olives are also from Sicily, but I’d sub in Spanish green olives if that’s what you can find.

Made this for a family gathering and it was gone in no time. Great tastes and so easy to prepare for a crowd.

This is a "go to" recipe for dinner parties, relatives and my stepson. It's his favorite. I make it with short ribs and usually braise for 3 not 2 hours. Tonight, for the first time, I am serving it with polenta as the "starch". It's even better the next day.

Made it on a Sunday. My French butcher gave me "basses côtes" and they were wonderful: full of flavor and (after long cooking and a 2-day stint in the fridge) tender but not flaccid. Made tomatoes on serving day, Tuesday. This will be a go-to main for mid-week dinners with friends.

Rated best new recipe in the last six months in our house. I followed these directions but used dried thyme and rosemary. Also, adopted a recommendation from Martha Stewart to add some orange peels to the pot which I removed before serving.
Excellent!

I agree with you Es, the is the best beef stew I have ever made. At first I hesitated when it called for 12 tomatoes, quartered - seemed excessive - but all 48 pieces are necessary as each bite is perfectly balanced with its own slice of this roasted red fruit... I added more fennel (2x) to the recipe and I think it gave the sauce a thicker texture - next time I might add both more leeks and fennel. This stew will certainly become a weekend staple...

This was superb. My only modification was to cut back the red pepper flakes to 1/2 tsp, and to let the meat go for 2-1/2 hours in the oven. I did reduce the sauce a little bit (with solids removed) and kept the tomatoes separate from the stew until serving time. Rewarmed the stew in the oven, laid the roasted tomatoes on top, and let it all rewarm a bit more in the oven another few minutes. Served with Florence Fabricant's Potato Torte on this site, and sauteed green beans.

Too much heat - overpowers the other flavors. Dial it way back.

This was amazingly good.I prepared it yesterday and served it today as suggested and served it with the potato kugel recipe from Francis Lam on the NYT website. This may be the best beef stew I've ever made. It may be that the olives added a complexity; it may have been the vegetable mix ( of which I couldn't discern individual flavors), but whatever, it was truly wonderfully fragrant. The meat was very tender, the tomatoes in winter are remarkable like this.
Thanks, Florence