By: Wheeler Cowperthwaite

As spring threatens to burst forth, green shoots reaching toward the sky, pushing through recently-frozen ground, it’s a great time to think about a few last stews until it gets cold again in the fall.

I’ve written about a few beef stews before — Vietnamese beef stew spiced with star anise, the French beef bourguignon and Irish beef stew made with stout. Each has its own flavor profile, side dish and history.

This time, I’m looking to Italy for their take on the classic, which can be made with things that aren’t strictly beef, including pork, lamb and veal. Spezzatino is also known as Italian beef stew.

What the stew is served with depends on the region. Go to the north and generally it’s served with polenta, in the south, it’s served with crusty bread. Many times, instead of polenta, it is served with mashed potatoes, a base that the stew is ladled over.

I was introduced to this dish by a family friend, coming back from a months-long trip to Italy. His version used an electric pressure cooker (InstantPot) but I’ve gone the not-quite-as-quick route.

No culture has truly reinvented the stew, so all these variations across countries revolve around basically the same ingredients with slight variations and differences in quantities.

Being an Italian beef stew, spezzatino utilizes olive oil instead of butter for sautéing the chopped vegetables, along with a few spices we typically term Italian when mixed together.

While it may be sacrilege to Julia Child (and her beef bourguignon recipe), when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

But much like Child’s, this recipe gets some of its coloring and flavor from red wine.

Spezzatino is also a specialty often served after a mountainous sport like skiing or hiking. It’s a staple of alpine hiking shacks.

Like most stews, it’s better reheated the following day, after all the flavors have had a chance to sit and mingle.

While many stew recipes call for potatoes, they’ve been omitted from this recipe because the stew is served over mashed potatoes.

Remember to serve the stew over mashed potatoes or polenta.

Spezzatino

Serves four

Ingredients

2 lbs. stew meat cut into quarter-sized pieces (beef, pork, lamb, veal)

4 medium onions thinly sliced (2 lbs.)

4 bay leaves

2 carrots

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 full glass of red or white wine

Water or low sodium broth

Salt (for potatoes)

1/8 cup all purpose flour

1 sprig of rosemary

2 cups beef stock

Black pepper

Salt to taste

Directions

Dice the onions and carrots. In a large skillet or Dutch oven on medium heat, add the onions and carrots and olive oil and sauté until the onions start to become translucent. Remove to a separate dish.

Pat the chopped meat dry and then coat with flour.

Add the meat to the skillet in small batches to brown on all sides. Remove once the meat is seared to the vegetable dish.

In the Dutch oven, add all the meat, vegetables, bay leaves, broth and wine. Cover. Turn heat to low and summer for two hours, stirring occasionally. Add water, broth or wine if the liquid level gets too low.

Remove from heat and serve or refrigerate and serve the next day. The sauce should be thick and the meat should be tender. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Wheeler Cowperthwaite is a former cops/courts reporter for the Rio Grande SUN.