[Utopenci] Svíčková, Tender Beef in Cream Gravy from the Czech Republic

Since I'm putting the finishing touches on my new book (so excited!) I began thinking about my first one published a few years ago. The whole series is called A Travel for Taste, just like this blog. Each book is from a different country or region. The first book contained travel stories and recipes from the Czech Republic, where I lived in 2005. It's still available in paperback and Kindle editions through Amazon.com.

The second book, to be published later this year, will have travel adventures and recipes from here in Bavaria. It will be much, much larger than the first book, with color photographs and far more stories and dishes. Watch this space!

My time in the Czech Republic was one of the most special periods on my life and it changed me forever. I had experiences there I'd only ever dreamed of and made lifelong friends.

One of my favorite Czech recipes from the first volume of A Travel for Taste is Svíčková (pronounced "SVITCH-ko-vah"), a tender beef dish with luscious cream gravy served with bread dumplings.

Following is the story of how I discovered the dish and how I learned to make it.

I first tried Svíčková it at a restaurant in Prague in 2005 without really knowing anything about it. I then had it at several other places and they were all good. However, none of those times compare to the fabulous taste sensation my friend Dalin and his lovely wife, Martina, taught me how to make.

Dalin and I met in a photography club in Liberec, the Czech town where I lived and taught English. He's a real Renaissance man. He and Martina invited me to their home in Liberec during my visit in 2010 for the cooking lesson.

Actually, they wouldn’t let me help but insisted that I sit in the corner and watch, writing down every nuance. And nuance there was! Fortunately they did let me out of my chair to take photographs. Their son Ondra showed up just in time to help set the table. As we sat down to this scrumptious Czech comfort food, Dalin poured us a glass of a relatively new Czech wine, Cabernet Moravia. The pairing was perfect.

You can use almost any cut of beef for this recipe since it is pressure-cooked. If you don't have a pressure cooker, slow-cook the roast until it melts in your mouth. This texture is important.

Traditionally, this dish is served with bread dumplings. I'll be posting that recipe in the near future. If you don't know how to make them or don't want to bother, potatoes or noodles are good side dishes.

Svíčková

Ingredients:
2 pounds of beef roast
½ cup vegetable oil
2 large yellow onions
2 large carrots
1 celery root
1 parsnip
1 lemon
2 tablespoons sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons salt
1 cup water
6 black peppercorns6 whole allspice
2 juniper berries
2 or 3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup heavy cream
Cranberry or elderberry preserves

For the Roast:
Rinse the meat and pat dry. Sear on all sides in the vegetable oil in the bottom of a pressure cooker. Remove and set aside.

Dice the onions. Peel and chop the carrots, celery root and parsnip into 1-inch cubes. Saute the vegetables in the pressure cooker on high heat until the onions are soft and slightly browned. Peel and chop the lemon and remove the seeds. Add to the vegetables and stir well. Stir in the sugar. Continue cooking on high for five more minutes until syrupy but not caramelized.

Add the beef back into the pan and salt it generously. Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of the pan but not onto the meat. Lower heat to medium and place the peppercorns, allspice, juniper berries and bay leaves on top of the beef. You could also tie them up in cheesecloth or put them in a tea ball and place them on top the meat. Assemble the pressure cooker and cook the meat under pressure 1¼ to 1½ hours until tender.

While the meat is cooking you can make the bread dumplings or other side dishes. When the meat is done, release the pressure safely and remove the lid from the pressure cooker.

Remove the seasoning (or cheesecloth or tea ball). Remove the meat from the pan and keep warm in a covered dish.

For the Cream Sauce:
Whisk the flour into the cream. Bring the vegetables and beef stock in the pan to a boil and stir in the cream and flour mixture to thicken. Boil until it coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Add some milk if it becomes too thick.

Remove from heat and use an immersion or regular blender to blend until smooth. If the sauce is too sweet, add a little salt or seasoning salt.

Slice the cooked beef into ½-inch slices.
Warm the plates in the oven. Arrange two slices of meat on a plate with three to five bread dumpling slices or another side dish. Smother the meat with the gravy.

Top with dabs of cranberry sauce or elderberry preserves.

This is a phenomenal Central European recipe. You really should try it - let me know if you do.

Photo for No Apparent Reason:

source : http://cnn.com, http://komnatachista.blogspot.com, http://detik.com

Posted by Tutik W