Moroccan Spiced Beef with Herb Parmesan Dumplings

Sometimes, delicious meal ideas begin with the age old question of 'what's for dinner?'  And, so, I asked this of Brian a couple of weekends ago.  This is normally a fruitless exercise because he'll tell me that whatever I choose is fine.  But, every once in a while, he'll throw out an idea which leads me to another idea and something tasty may result.  That sounds a little convoluted, doesn't it?  How do you decide what to make for dinner? 

Anyway, on this particular occasion his answer was beef stew.  That's a fine idea, of course, but I'd already made it a few times this month and wasn't particularly inspired.  So I started thinking of ways to use the same base but change the flavor and that led me to my overstuffed spice pantry.  Normally I associate this blend of Moroccan inspired seasonings with lamb instead of beef but there's no reason why both can't work.  And since I was taking the stew in a different direction, I decided to leave Brian's beloved potatoes behind as well and go with some delectable buttery dumplings.  I roasted a few beautiful rainbow carrots I found at the market and dinner was served.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

Beef:
2 lbs.  Beef round cubes
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 Onion, peeled and diced
4 Cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 Cup red wine
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
4 Cups beef stock
1 Teaspoon sugar
2 Teaspoons smoked paprika
1 Tablespoon cumin
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon turmeric
1 Can (approx. 15 oz.) white cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
Salt & pepper to taste

Dumplings:
1 Stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1" pieces
2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 Cup milk
2 Tablespoons chopped chives

Place the flour in a large bowl and add the beef cubes.  Roll them around to coat.  Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into a large Dutch oven or other oven safe stew pot.  Add half the beef cubes (it's important not to overcrowd the beef if you want it to brown instead of boil) and sear on medium high heat for a couple of minutes, rotating the cubes to get the sear on all sides.  Remove the beef from the pot, add the remaining tablespoon of oil and repeat with the remainder of the beef.

When seared, remove all the beef and whisk in 1 cup of stock.  Scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the pot and whisk them into the stock.  Return the beef to the pot and add the onion, garlic, sugar, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and turmeric.  (I've also made this without the sugar but prefer it with.  It won't taste sweet at all but the sugar helps take the edge off some of the strong spices.)  Stir in the tomato paste, wine and remaining stock and season.  Cover and cook in a 350 degree oven for 3 hours.  When done, move onto a medium low flame on the stove top, stir in the beans and leave, uncovered, to reduce slightly while you make the dumplings.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a bowl.  Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles course crumbs.  Add the Parmesan, herbs and milk and stir until it comes together into a dough ball.  Scoop the dumplings into a large pot of boiling water (I used a 1 oz. scoop), cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and add to the beef.  Do not overcook them or they will fall apart. Note that, although you can make the dumplings right in the stew pot, I prefer to cook them separately so that the stew does not become cloudy.  Makes approximately 8 servings.