Beef stew with lemons and mushrooms

Staying with the subject of preserved lemons, this is a stew using them as flavoring.
A stew is quite a simple thing, everyone has their own template which they use, so I guess this is mine. I am sorry that I can't give you the exact quantities for everything, it's a case of using what you have...

Ingredients:
Beef (roughly 400 gr.), in larger chunks ("Voressen" in German)
1-2 tablespoons of flour
Olive oil
A couple of onions, roughly chopped
A couple of garlic cloves, finely chopped
Brown button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 preserved lemon, only the rind, finely chopped
One bay leaf
A couple of thyme sprigs
One sprig of rosemary
One glass of red wine
Ca. 1/2 l of stock
Salt and pepper

Toss your beef in the seasoned flour. Brown in a little bit of oil on all sides and put to one side.
Add a little more oil and fry your mushrooms. Put them with the beef.

Add a little more oil and fry the onions and garlic until translucent. Add your aromatics (herbs and lemon) and fry them for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
Add the beef and mushrooms back in and deglaze with the red wine. Let the alcohol cook off and add your stock. When the stew has come back to the boil, reduce the heat and partially cover with a lid. Let this cook for at least 45 minutes. Check the seasoning.

Serve with polenta and a sprinkle of roughly chopped parsley for color and taste.

White wine and sour cream risotto with foraged mushrooms

Please forgive me for my recent lack of posts. I was away on holiday. But have returned with lots of ideas to share!

Autumn is definitely encroaching more and more on central Europe. Can't say I am enthusiastic about it, as I feel I haven't taken full advantage of summer yet.

One of the aspects of it I can enjoy, is the beginning of the mushroom season.

This is a dinner that we made after a short walk to forage for mushrooms.

I don't think I need to tell anyone exactly how to make a risotto, so here is a more general approach:
Sweat some finely chopped onion in some butter and olive oil for a minute. Add the risotto rice and stir. Add some white wine to deglaze. When this has evaporated start adding hot bouillon or stock by the ladle. Always wait until the pan is fairly dry before adding the next ladle. Your rice should be done in about 15 to 20 minutes.

Finish it with a little bit of butter, some grated parmesan cheese and a generous helping of sour cream. I added some lemon juice to bring out the tartness of the sour cream too.

Clean your mushrooms, fry them in a hot pan with maybe a little bit of finely chopped garlic. Add some chopped parsley when they're done.

Serve the mushrooms over the risotto.

PS: Leftover risotto tastes really nice formed into a rough patty and fried crispy on both sides in a hot pan with some olive oil.