This recipe for T'fina Pkaila came from Saveur, and it's perfect for a rainy day. With beef ribs and meatballs, you get a double dose of bovine, and the color from the carrots and spinach make it a gorgeous dish to serve.
Meatballs:
olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 lbs ground veal (or ground beef)
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs pepper
2 tbs fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
Heat oil in a large pot (I used a dutch oven), and cook onions until trabsulcent. Transfer to a bowl and mix all remaining ingredients together (using your hands works best), then form the mixture into balls. Add a little more oil to the pan, and brown all sides of the meatballs - this will probably take a few batches. Put meatballs on a plate and set aside.
Stew:
Olive oil
2 lbs beef short ribs*
4 gloves garlic, mined
1 large onion, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and cubed
5 cups beef stock
10+ oz spinach leaves, roughly chopped
salt & pepper
Season beef with salt and pepper, browning the sides. Remove from pan and add onions and garlic and cook about 5 minutes. Return beef to pot, add stock and carrots and simmer on low (covered) for about an hour. Add meatballs and cook about 10 more minutes, add spinach about 5 minutes before serving so it stays green and doesn't get too soggy.
*When I was at the market there were 2 beautiful beef shanks/osso bucco on sale so I bought them instead of splurging on the short ribs.
