Beef & Black Bean Stew

With the Winter Olympics underway, I've been thinking a lot about how to incorporate this historical event into my recipes.  Obviously, the top answer is by exploring all of the culinary creations other countries have to offer. 

I've been doing quite a bit of research in the last few weeks to prepare, looking into mostly Asian, Mediterranean and Mexican recipes as these are typically the flavors I like most.  However, I didn't want to miss out on anything, so I also looked into recipes that used ingredients I'd either never used or never heard of.

What better way to enhance my palate than during the Olympics, right?

This dish is my take on something called Feijoada, a Brazilian dish.  Traditionally, this stew is made with beef and pork, but since we all know how much I despise any and all things porcine, I went with an all-beef version.  I'm going to go ahead and say this is the best version ever made.  By my standards, anyway.

There's usually a lot of meat in this dish, so I had to scour for all-beef products that would still give me the right taste.  Depending on where you live, you might have to special order a couple of these ingredients if you want it just like mine.  Since you probably don't have the same aversion to all things pig, you could easily substitute regular sausage into this recipe.  I used a venison-beef blend sausage because it's available in my area and I love it.  And, since St. Patrick's Day is coming up soon, I've got some corned beef on hand so I used that, too.

Whether you go all beef or no beef, this dish will have you spouting out Portuguese and cheering on the Brazilians every time you see them compete...

Wait, does Brazil do the Winter Olympics?  It seems pretty warm and tropical-ish there... maybe something I should look into...








Beef & Black Bean Stew

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/4 cup minced garlic
1 lb. corned beef
1 lb. venison-beef sausage, sliced
1 lb. canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes3 bay leaves2 tsp dried parsley1/4 tsp dried coriander

Salt & Pepper to taste

White rice
Fresh parsley
Fresh cilantro

Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on high for 1 hour, stirring frequently.

Reduce temperature to medium and cook an additional 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

Remove bay leaves before serving.  Pull the corned beef apart with forks in the stew.

Serve over cooked white rice.  Garnish with fresh parsley and cilantro.