Beef & Butterbean Stew in a Bread Bowl

It seems to be taking me ages to write this post, things are all over the place at the moment. My friend has given birth to twin girls, work has been mad and I've got a stinking cold, which in turn kills my appetite. I have however made Hubby's year by getting him a ticket to meet Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and take part in the Pig in a Day course held at River Cottage HQ. This is preparation for the half a pig my smallholding friend is giving us after Christmas. Hubby, bless him, is so excited!

The inspiration for this dish came from the Dough cookbook Hubby had borrowed off a friend and thought a stew from this months Fresh magazine would be perfect in them. I admit I'm not a huge fan of stews as I find them boring, but this one was different. I made a double batch of the stew so we also had some the next day. The stew tasted even better the day after as the flavours had matured. I never thought I would say this but I would have this stew again.

The bread bowls worked better than expected, however next time I would grease the bowl better or use greaseproof paper to stop the bread sticking. It's been nearly 2 months now since I've been making all of our bread at home and I never thought there would be such a significant difference when I came to taste mass produced bread again. At the weekend we were away and I had some supermarket french baguette, it tasted so sweet and a fluffy nothingness compared to the bread I make at home. My homemade bread is far more filling and tastier!

Bread Bowls
Makes 2 bowls
Adapted from Dough: Simple Contemporary Bread

250g strong bread flour
10g polenta
1 tsp dried yeast
pinch of sugar
1 tsp salt
25g olive oil
320g warm water

1) Activate the yeast in warm water and sugar. Leave for 15 min to froth. Stir the olive oil into the yeasty mix.

2) Mix together flour, polenta and salt then gradually add the yeasty water to make a dough. Kneed for 10 min by hand or 2 min by mixer. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.

3) Lightly oil the outside of 2 ovenproof bowls. Divide dough in half and roll into balls. Roll out each piece of dough into a circle 3-5mm thick. Shape ontop on the upturned bowls and press down to rid of air bubbles. Rest for 10 min.

4) Bake bowls at 200oc for 20-25 min until the bread bowls are golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes before carefully removing the bread from the bowls

Beef & Butterbean Stew
Serves 4
Adapted from Fresh Magazine

2 tbsp olive oil
750g stewing steak
1 onion, finely sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp hot smoked paprika
125ml red wine
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of butter beans
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
salt & pepper

1) In a deep casserole dish brown the stewing steak in the oil. Remove from the pan, set aside and fry onions and peppers in pan until softened.

2) Add the rest of the rest of the ingredients (apart from parsley & butterbeans) and simmer on a low heat for 3 - 3.5 hours, until beef begins to fall apart.

3) Stir in butterbeans and parsley then simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Beef & Pesto Ragu

We've just returned from a lovely holiday where we ate out a lot. When we come back from holidays I always find it hard to get back into the swing of cooking again, so finding a copy of Delicious on the doormat provided some much needed inspiration.

Included in this months Delicious was a supplement all about feeding your family for £5, something that lots of places seem to be doing at the mo. I tweaked the recipe for Pepper & Pesto Lamb with paste slightly to account for ingredients I already had in. For the 2 of us the ingredients came to less than £3. It was nice, but there was something missing and I'm not sure what. It didn't have the depth and flavours that my bolognaise has.

Tonight I'm leaving Hubby to his own devices as I'm off to gawp at David Tennant In Hamlet. I can't wait!

Beef & Pesto Ragu
Serves 2

250g beef mince
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp garlic paste
1 red pepper, diced
250ml passata
1 tbsp pesto
120g pasta

1) Gently fry onions until softened. Add mince and brown.

2) Once mince has browned add red pepper, passata and pesto. Simmer for 25min.

3) Cook pasta and stir into sauce.

Curry Monday - Rogan Josh

This is the first curry in the history of Curry Monday which I haven't tasted. I've been off work today with an odd bug leaving me feeling tired, dizzy, nauseous and lack of appetite so today, for me, bland foods are the game. Hubby however was greeted by the aroma of beef rogan josh as he came home. I had already defrosted the beef and wasn't going to waste it. He's secretly pleased I didn't eat my portion as he can take it to work tomorrow for lunch.

I used Serena's @ Rock Cakes recipe. I had to make the odd alteration as I didn't have any yogurt in so used creme fraiche instead and I totally forgot the almonds. Hubby enjoyed it and said it had just the right chilli kick.

Ragu of Tiny Meatballs

The Easter weekend is nearly over and I can't believe how fast it's gone. My Simnel Loaf went down really well, I'll be making it again next Easter. At least I'm now on a 2 week holiday before going back to work (one of the few advantages of working in a school). As I gave up biscuits for lent I can see a surge of biscuit baking ahead!

Saturday night we camped out with Hubby's cousins. It was the first camping trip of the year. I admit I was a bit apprehensive at first, when we settled in for the night frost was beginning to form on the tent. However once we snuggled into our sleeping bags we were soon warm. At 6am I had to get up to shake an inch of snow off the tent, just a shame it had all melted by 8am.

A few weeks back I stumbled upon Katie at Other People's Foods post on Jamie Olivers Ragu of Tiny Meatballs. I've made various meatballs before, but they have always been really disappointing. However these look so delicious I decided to give meatballs another go.

Both of us really enjoyed them and to make it even better we have another portion for tomorrow night. The only slight alteration I would make to it in the future is to only put zest of 1/2 a lemon in.

Congratulations to Niri who won the Hotel Chocolat Easter egg.

Feta Stuffed Beef Burgers

Usually for Sunday dinner we have something like a roast, but with our little furry friends living on the dining table until tomorrow we needed an easy meal we could eat on our *ahem* laps on the settee.

We used to have homemade burgers quite a lot, but with us becoming a bit more experimental with food they went by the wayside. Tonight was the perfect opportunity to resurrect them. I believe the key to a great burger is good quality ingredients and not too many ingredients. I use the same basic recipe for most burgers but just change the meat, filling and/or herbs.

I rarely put fillers like breadcrumbs in my meat burgers and only use egg to bind if it really needs it. There are various way you can cook your burger. I prefer to cook them on a rack over a baking tray in the oven. There are two reasons for this:
1)It solves the problem of trying to turn them over if your frying them
2)It's healthier than frying
3)We usually have them with homemade oven chips and we don't have a separate grill and oven.

Tonight we had them with in ciabatta with a basic tomato salsa, home-made wedges. The burgers turned out quite rounded so the salsa didn't sit very well on top of them, but they still tasted delicious.

Feta Stuffed Beef Burgers
Makes 2

300g good quality beef mince
1/2 tsp mint
12 small cubes of feta (or however many you can stuff in your burger!)
splash of Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1) Preheat oven to 200oc. Mix all ingredients (apart from feta) until well combined. Roll mix into 2 balls

2) Flatten each ball into a disk and make an deep indentation in the middle. Push feta into the hole and mould mince around feta.

3) Place on rack in baking tray (you don't have to do this but I think they cook better). In the style of Jamie O drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Bake for 25-30 min.

Steak Fajitas

I love fajitas and although they are quick and easy we rarely eat them at home. A few weeks ago Fred at Dinner Diary posted this recipe for steak fajitas and I knew we had to try them.

I marinated the beef for an hour which gave a delicious taste of lime. I also added the wild garlic we foraged for on Sunday in the pepper & onion mix. We had them with tortillas, salad, soured cream, spring onions, cucumber and a bit of grated cheese. They are lovely and we'll certainly be having them again.

Steak, Stout and Cheddar Pie

After last weeks disastrous Sunday Dinner I was determined to make this one better. In this months GFM it features a delicious looking Steak, Guinness & Cheese pie. I knew this was both something we would really enjoy. One problem we couldn't eat a huge pie between the two of us, so I took the recipe and adapted it to make 2 individual pies. By lining to small pie dishes with baking parchment the pies lifted out easily after baking. The one thing that would have made this recipe easier was if I had a ovenproof dish I could also put on the hob. I had to make the filling in a saucepan then transfer it to a pyrex dish. One day I'll own a Le Cruset casserole dish!

The pies were delicious, but incredibly filling. We had it with mustard champ and purple sprouting broccoli. I just love the sound the pastry makes as you cut through it. The only alteration I would make to was to maybe try stilton instead of cheddar next time.

Steak, Stout & Cheddar Pie
Serves 2-4 (depending on how gready you are!)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
1 garlic clove, chopped
10g butter
1 large carrot, chopped
handful of mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp rosemary
400g stewing steak, cubed
220ml stout
1 tbsp plain flour
75g mature Cheddar cheese or Stilton, grated
500g ready made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

1) Preaheat oven to 190oc. In a large pan heat the olive oil and gently soften the onions. Turn the heat up and add butter, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, beef, rosemary a pinch of salt and a generous amount of ground pepper. Fry for about 4 min, until beef is beginning to colour.

2) Pour in stout and flour, plus just enough water to cover. Transfer to an ovenproof dish and bake for about 1.5 hours until meat is tender and sauce is thick.

3) Remove from oven and stir in half of the cheese. Allow to cool slightly. Line pie dishes with baking parchment. Cut pastry block into thirds and cut one of these thirds in half widthways. With the larger two pieces of pastry roll out, then line each pie dish. Fill each pie with with the stew and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Roll out the two final pieces of pastry and lightly score a hash pattern on them. Lay pastry over pie and fold excess edges inwards. Brush with beaten egg. Bake for 35-45 min until golden.

Mini Beef Wellington

I first tasted Beef Wellington at a friends wedding last year and it was delicious, only now have I gained the confidence to try it my self. Some recipes suggest using fois gras, but I decided to go for the non-fois gras version as 1) it's a great deal cheaper and 2) I won't eat fois gras. It was a great deal easier than I thought, however I did over cook the steak so it was more well done that I would have liked, but I'll know for next time.

Mini beef wellington
Serves 2

1 packet of ready made puff pastry
2 fillet steaks
150g mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
1/2 tsp thyme
70ml white wine
1 egg, beaten
seasoning

1) Sear steaks on both sides, then sit aside to cool

2) Roughly chop mushrooms (I pulsed them in a blender. Heat oil & butter and fry mushrooms and thyme for around 10 min until soft. Season with salt & pepper. Pour in wine and cook for a further 10 min until wine has been absorbed. Allow to cool.

3) Roll out dough, then cut into 2 lengths. Put 1 tbsp of the mushroom mix (duxelle) into the 2nd quarter of the pastry length. Place steak on top then put another tbsp of duxelle on top. Fold pastry over and use a fork to seal the edges. Repeat with the other steak. Place in the fridge for 30 min.

4) Preheat oven to 200oc. Brush pastry with a beaten egg then bake for 20-25 min until golden.

Pepper Crusted Beef with Yorkshire Puddings

After an active, knackering, but highly rewarding
week in Wales with the kids eating carb laden food I was ready for some good old home cooking. I was also suffering cooking withdrawal and wanted to cook a roast dinner.

After being inspired by my new favourite cookbook I cooked crushed new potatoes with garlic and rosemary from the book. I served it with beef with black pepper and mustard crust, stuffing, sprouts and possibly the best Yorkshire puds I have ever made! I have to admit it is one of the best roast dinners I've made, plus to make things even better there is some beef left for lunch tomorrow. The size of the puds made it difficult to take a good photo. The secret behind the puds....I think it is the Mellow Yellow rapeseed oil I have started using. It's fantastic and great for cooking at high heat.

Yorkshire puddings
Serves 4

50g plain flour
1 egg
140ml milk

1) Sift flour into bowl and crack egg into well in the middle. Gradually whisk in milk then season. Put in fridge for about an hour.

2) Pour oil into Yorkshire pud tin so it just covers the base. Place in oven for 5 min at 200oc to heat oil. Take tin out of oven and carefully pour batter in so 2/3 full. Bake for 15/20 min.

Pepper crusted beef

1 bulb of garlic
1 tbsp black peppercorns,
1 tbsp thyme
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
hunk of beef (I used 1kg rolled sirloin)

1) Roast bulb of garlic in oven for 30 min at 200oc.

2) Break down peppercorns with pestle and mortar. Squeeze in roasted garlic and mix in thyme and mustard to form a paste

3) Massage paste into top of beef. Cook beef at 240oc for 20 then at 190oc for 40 min (medium) for every kg. Rest for 40 min.

Chilli Con Carne & Guacamole

Monday and Tuesday night are usually double meal night as I'm at a night class on the Tuesday and want something quick and easy for tea. Tonight we had chilli con carne with guacamole and tortilla chips. Tomorrow I'll probably serve the chilli with rice or on jacket spuds.

I didn't realise how shockingly bad this photo was and the splodge of chilli on the bowl until I had uploaded it. The guacamole was a beautiful vivid green when I made it 5 min before the photo was taken, but it soon discoloured.

Chilli con carne
Serves 4

1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
500g beef steak mince
75ml port (or red wine)
1 red pepper, sliced
1 medium red chilli, finely sliced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 beef oxo cube
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
salt & pepper
1 tin of kidney beans

1) Fry onions and garlic until softened. Add mince, then cook until browned. Pour in port and boil for 3 min.

2) Stir in the remainder of the ingredients (apart from the kidney beans). Simmer for 50 min.

3) Add kidney beans and simmer for a further 10 min.

Guacamole
Serves 1-2

Juice of half a lime
1/2 a fresh red chilli, finely sliced
1 tsp coriander
1 ripe avocado
salt & pepper

1) Blitz all ingredients until you have a paste.

Multi Mince

Nearly every week we cook a "double dinner". A meal that will stretch over two nights to 1) save time 2) be more economical. This weeks double meal has been Multi Mince. I daren't call it bolognaise as it is nothing like traditional bolognaise!

My multi mince is different every time I make it depending as to what is in the house and what needs to be eaten. I also keep the veg chunky in it. We usually eat it with pasta one night, then the next night turned into something else with the addition of another ingredient. Be it kidney beans or mash to make a kind of shepherds pie. I also use the same mince recipe to make lasagna.

Multi mince

serves 4

1 onion diced

1 garlic clove

400g beef steak mince

3 rashers of smoked back bacon, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

3 sticks of celery, chopped

handful of mushrooms, chopped

1 red pepper, sliced

1 beef oxo cube

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

125ml red wine
drizzle of balsamic vinegar

splash of Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp mixed herbs

1) Soften the onions and garlic on a medium heat with a bit of oil. Add mince and bacon. Cook until mince is browned. Pour in wine and simmer until wine has reduced by half.

2) Add all the veg (but the chopped toms) and cook for 2 min. Add the chopped toms, balsamic, Worcestershire sauce, herbs and crumble in oxo cube. It is has thickened too much add a splash of water. Simmer for 50 min.

Stir Fry Roast Beef with Hoisin Sauce

Hubbie and I have been away for the weekend with family. Ever so often we all meet up, drink lots of drink, eat lots of food and then all crash out at the house of who ever is hosting the party.
We were planning to have a BBQ, but with the recent weather being the way it is we decided it wasn't the risk and cooked a mahosive hunk of beef. There was still some left over so we brought some back and I made a rather yummy stirfry.

Stir fry roast beef with hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dry sherry
2 tsp sesame oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 ginger, finely chopped
200g roast beef, thinkly sliced across the grain
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 pepper, thinly sliced
140g mushrooms, sliced
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
Rice noodles, as side dish

1) Mix soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil, garlic and ginger in shallow dish. Leave for 5 minutes. You can use fresh sirloin steaks, cut thinly, just marinade for 20 min (or longer)

2) Heat wok, add sesame seeds and toast until golder. Tip onto plate.

3)Heat sunflower oill, add steak anmd marinade. Stir fry for 3-4 min. Remove beef with slotted spoon to leave marinade behind.

4) Toss peppers in marinade for 2 min, then add mushrooms and cook for a further minute.

5) Return beef to wok. Add hoisin. Stirfry for final minute. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.