Moroccan Apple Beef Stew

Four years. 208 weeks. The blog anniversary falls during a pandemic, which is appropriate in a way that only my life would produce — every major milestone accompanied by a crisis, every celebration shadowed by something difficult, every candle on the cake flickering in wind. But the candles don't go out. They flicker and they hold and I keep blowing, and the cake is still there, and the kitchen is still here, and I am still standing in it.

The pandemic is real and present and affecting everything — school, work, social life, Tom (we're still apart more than together, both working, both careful, both missing the closeness we had just begun to build). But I've done this before. Not a pandemic, specifically, but the contraction of a life. Cancer contracted my life to a couch and a kitchen. Divorce contracted it to me and two children and a dog. I know how to live small. I know how to find everything you need in a small space. I know that a kitchen table is enough — for school and for dinner and for homework and for tears and for joy and for all the things a life requires.

Mason started a sourdough experiment — he's been feeding Frank (the starter) on a modified schedule, testing whether temperature affects rise time. He has a hypothesis. He has a control. He has a variable. He is doing science with bread, and I am so proud I could burst. This boy. This curious, careful, brilliant boy who turns everything into a question and every question into an experiment. He will be fine. Whatever this pandemic brings, he will be fine, because a person who can find wonder in yeast will find wonder in anything.

Lily has developed a pandemic routine: morning schoolwork (reluctantly), afternoon horse grooming at the stable (joyfully), evening drawing (horses, exclusively). She is managing the lockdown the way she manages everything — by doing the things she loves as often as possible and tolerating the things she doesn't love as briefly as possible. This is not a bad strategy. This might, in fact, be the best strategy.

I made pot roast. The annual recipe. The anniversary recipe. The recipe that started everything, that first refrigerator casserole aside. Mom's pot roast, in the slow cooker, filling the house with the smell of beef and potatoes and carrots and the unwavering certainty that some things endure. The pandemic will end. The lockdown will lift. The schools will reopen. But the pot roast will still be here, because the pot roast is always here, and the pot roast is the answer to every question the world asks. What do you do when everything changes? You make the pot roast. You make the thing that doesn't change. You stand in the kitchen and you stir and you serve and you feed the people you love, and the feeding is the faith, and the faith is the food, and the food is the life, and the life continues.

Four years. Still here. Still cooking. Still standing.

This year I leaned into the spirit of Mom’s pot roast — that slow, unwavering warmth — and let it become something slightly different, something with a little more complexity, the way four years of cooking through crisis gives you complexity whether you asked for it or not. This Moroccan Apple Beef Stew is everything the anniversary called for: beef that goes tender with time, sweetness from apple that softens the hard edges, spices that make the house smell like something is being taken care of. Mason asked about the cinnamon. Lily came in from the cold smelling like horses and sat down without being asked. That’s when you know you got it right.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 50 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs beef chuck roast, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium apples (such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup dried apricots, halved
Fresh cilantro and crusty bread or couscous, for serving

Instructions

Season and sear the beef. Pat beef cubes dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sear the beef on all sides until deeply browned, about 3–4 minutes per side. Transfer seared beef to a plate and set aside.
Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion to the same pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to caramelize, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Bloom the spices. Stir in the cumin, cinnamon, coriander, smoked paprika, and cayenne. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until the spices are fragrant and toasted.
Add liquid and aromatics. Stir in the tomato paste, then pour in the diced tomatoes and beef broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Return the seared beef and any accumulated juices to the pot. Add the chopped apple and dried apricots and stir to combine.
Simmer low and slow. Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beef is very tender and beginning to fall apart.
Add chickpeas and finish. Stir in the chickpeas and continue to simmer uncovered for an additional 20–30 minutes, until the broth has thickened slightly. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
Serve. Ladle into bowls over couscous or alongside crusty bread. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Nutrition (per serving)

Moroccan Apple Beef Stew — The Pot Roast That Holds Everything Together