I love adding sausages to meat stew. They’re such a great flavor carrier. The spices and seasonings in the sausage meat get transferred to the sauce, and the beef soaks them up during cooking.
Of course, I’m not talking about hotdogs or canned Vienna sausages here. You’ll want real sausages — the more strongly flavored, the better. I prefer sausages that reek of garlic and chilies, but you can use sausages with a different flavor profile.
Coaxing the flavors from the sausages begins by browning them and allowing them to render fat. That’s flavorful fat and you want to see puddles of it before adding chopped onion. The sausages and onion were cooked together until the onion pieces softened and started to brown.
Then, the beef was added. Beef shank was used here and I included the bones with the marrow inside them. The cooking continued until the meat was nicely browned.
Two cups of crushed tomatoes were poured in, oregano, bay laves and salt were sprinkled and stirred in, and then some broth was added to make sure that the liquid did not dry up during the slow cooking. From that point, it was just a waiting game.
But, wait… No ground pepper? Like I said, the sausages were already very well seasoned. Spicy. Adding pepper would have been overkill.
When the beef was tender, I dropped in vegetables. Not all at once because the three vegetables used here — carrot, bell pepper and long beans — required different cooking times. The carrot cubes needed to cook the longest so they went in first and allowed to simmer in the sauce for ten minutes. The bell peppers were added next and, finally, after another ten minutes, the beans. Ten minutes later, the beans were done, and my beef and sausage stew was ready to be served.
Beef and sausage stew
Ingredients
- 800 grams beef shank - bone-in
- 300 grams sausages
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 2 cups crushed tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- salt
- 2 cups bone broth - you may need more
- 1 cup carrot cubes
- 1 cup diced bell peppers
- 2 cups cut green beans - see notes below
Instructions
- Cut the beef into two-inch cubes. Reserve the bones.
- Heat a pan and spread the sausages. Cook, rolling them often, until browned and fat has been rendered.
- Add the chopped onion and continue cooking until softened and lightly caramelized.
- Add the beef cubes and reserved bones.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat cubes are browned.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, bay leaves, a teaspoon of salt and the bone broth. Bring to the boil.
- Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and simmer the beef until tender. Taste occasionally, add salt if needed, and pour in more broth is the liquid dries up too early.
- Stir in the carrot cubes and simmer, covered, for ten minutes.
- Add the diced bell peppers, stir and simmer, covered, for another ten minutes.
- Throw in the green beans, stir and simmer, covered, for a final ten minutes.
- Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings, if needed, before serving you beef and sausage stew.
