Showing posts with label soups and stews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soups and stews. Show all posts
One place I haven't yet managed to visit yet since I moved over here to the UK, is the Republic of Ireland, which is what the Southern most part of Ireland is called.
A country in its own right it is not a part of the United Kingom, like Northern Ireland is and Dublin is it's capital. It is on my bucket list however and God willing one day I will get there!
This is a recipe which dates back to the 1700s. It was traditionally thought of as a city dish which would be eaten in the winter months.
It is said that an Irish wife could
go to bed and leave it simmering on the stove for hours. That was so that it
might be ready when her husband arrived home from the pub and was wanting his dinner.
Historically the dish is also a way of using up all the rashers of bacon and sausages on Thursday night before Friday, which in the Catholic faith the eating of meat is forbidden.
While researching this dish, I came across quite a few versions. Some just included potatoes, onions, bacon and sausage.
Others included other vegetables like carrots, and some had the inclusion of barley. One thing they all had in common was the cooking of it in a pot on top of the stove.
I chose to cook my bacon and sausage first so that they were nicely browned. This, for me, is very much a visual thing, and for no other reason.
I just don't find the sight of un-browned sausage or bacon very appealing to the appetite! You don't need to cook them all the way through, just so they are golden brown on the outside.
The barley makes a lovely almost nutty addition. You will want to check the stock levels as you are simmering it on top of the stove however.
You will not want the pan to boil dry and the contents to catch. I added a few herbs and the end result was fabulously delicious!
*Dublin Coddle*
Serves 4
Chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Crusty bread to serve
Take a medium flame proof casserole dish with a lid. (I use my enamel iron one). Place the chopped onion in the bottom of the dish. Top with the pearl barley. Place the bay leaf on top. Cut up the bacon into squares and place over top of that and then the sausages over top of the bacon. Finish with a layer of potatoes. Pour the chicken stock over top and then sprinkle with salt, pepper, savoury and thyme. Cover and then bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, over low heat for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the lid and dot with butter.
Place, uncovered into the heated oven and roast for 15 to 20 minutes until the potatoes are golden. Serve ladled into deep bowls, scattered with fresh parsley and with crusty bread on the side.
This was perfect for a cold Winter's day and a most delicious way to use up some sausages in my refrigerator that needed using up. My husband really enjoyed this.
I wager any man will. It's hearty and satisfying and very tasty! They say a glass of cold Guiness goes very well. Ithe Shona!
Enjoy!
With the colder days and nights comes the desire and need for warming soups, stews and comfort food types of meals. Meals like a Classic Beef Chili are the order of the day, especially when the wind is howling at your door and rain is pelting against the window glass!
My mother discovered a recipe for Chili Con Carne when I was in high school and it became her Saturday night go to meal for years and years and years. It was a recipe she got off of a tin of tomato soup and my father liked it, so it stuck. My father never liked my mother using a lot of spices and herbs. He had very simple tastes. He was quite fussy actually so when my mother discovered anything even a tiny bit out of the ordinary that he liked, she flew with it.
This recipe today is a simple beef chili, sized perfectly just for the
two of us . . . actually I think it might feed three small eaters . . .
but it certainly feeds just two generously. With just as much flavour as a full sized recipe might have, it goes down a real treat on a cold day. Todd likes his with crusty bread . . . I am happy with crackers.
We both like cheese on top. Its hearty and thick . . . and perfectly spiced. Not too hot, but not too mild either . . .
It uses simple ingredients I always have in my store cupboard . . . tinned beans, tomatoes, passata . . . fresh onions and peppers . . . and some extra lean ground beef. I never buy regular ground beef. Its a false economy to buy meat that is so filled with fat that half of it gets poured away . . .
In fact sometimes I use finely minced steak and its even better. With me its a texture thing. I am not overly fond of mince meat. When I was a child my mother could not get me to eat minced beef at all . . . I was an expert at picking it out of everything . . . and hiding it under placemants, carpets, inside heat vents, when nobody was looking, etc. It made me gag. I hated it . . . absolutely hated it.
Thankfully I've out grown that dislike, it doesn't make me gag anymore, but then I only buy extra lean and good quality. I hate getting a piece of bone or gristle in my mouth . . . still. Anyways, back to the chili.
This recipe is delicious and perfectly sized for just two. You could serve more by doubling the ingredients if you wish. With crusty bread, or crackers, cheese on top or not, it goes down a real treat.
*Classic Beef Chili*
Serves 2
To serve: (optional)
grated cheddar cheese
sour cream
It is chili in its simplest, purest, unadulterated form. It would not win a chili cook-off I am sure, but it is perfect for just us. Bon Appetit!
It was really chilly today (Thursday as I write this) and we actually had to turn on the heat for a short time to take the chill off. Damp and chilly, that's the typical British Autumn. It will be replaced in a couple of months by cold and wet, which will be Winter.
I decided to just wing it and use cabbage instead and it turned out gorgeous. I added some caraway seed, which gave a lovely authentic flavour to it . . .
I cooked the cabbage until it was meltingly tender, almost buttery, along with some onions and a tiny bit of garlic. It smelled gorgeous. I do so love the smell of cabbage. I know not everyone does, but I do.
I simmered it for a time in chicken broth, along with the pastrami. The creaminess comes not from adding any milk or cream, but by the clever use of a bit of flour for thickening and then the addition of some gruyere cheese at the end (swiss) and of course a touch of Thousand Island Dressing. What would a Reuben be without that!
1/2 tsp caraway seed (or less if you are not fond of it)
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 1/2 TBS plain flour
1/2 pound sliced pastrami, rolled up and cut into slivers
Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cabbage. Cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat until beginning to soften without browning. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the caraway and the flour and cook for a minute. Stir in the chicken stock and corned beef and bring to the boil. Reduce to a slow simmer, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes to meld all the flavours and make sure the cabbage is nice and soft. Stir in half the cheese along with the salad dressing. Stir to melt the cheese. Ladle into hot bowls and garnish with the remaining cheese and minced chives or parsley. Serve immediately. Crusty bread or rye bread goes very well with this.
I think crusty buttery rye bread croutons would be really tasty on top of this . . . but alas we don't get really good rye bread here. Well not in the shops I have been to at any rate! There is a rye bread, but its a very different kind of rye. Not like what I am used to. I do hope you will try this. We thought it was really lovely. Salty enough without adding any salt, and nice and peppery from the Pastrami. Bon appetit!
This has to be the easiest and tastiest stew around. I clipped the recipe from a newspaper many moons again and I have been using it ever since. Not every time I make a stew, but whenever I know I am going to have a really busy day and am wanting something delicious for our supper that isn't going to take a lot of faffing about!
This fits the bill perfectly. It pretty much cooks itself. With just a bit of peeling and chopping, your work is pretty much done, and if you use frozen chopped onions and buy your meat already cubed, then it doesn't take long to throw together at all.
There is no browning on top of the stove. You just put the meat, onions, garlic and seasonings into a casserole dish/roaster and bang it into a really hot oven for about 10 minutes. Your meat will have started to brown itself by then. There is no messing about and no fat spatter all over the top of your stove.
Everything else simply gets stirred in. Cubed potato and swede, sliced carrots and parsnips. A tin of tomato soup, some water, Worcestershire sauce and a small packet of cream of mushroom cup-a-soup . . . dry.
You stir that all together, pop on a lid and then let the oven do the rest. I find about 2 hours does the trick nicely, but have left it in even longer than that sometimes when I get super busy. Just make sure it doesn't bake dry.
The soups create a delicious thick gravy, the meat gets lovely and tender, the vegetables just right. I like to serve this with buttered bread and pickles beets. Oh boy but it is some good.
*Easy Oven Stew*
Serves 4
Serves 4
This is a quick and easy stew to make. Other than peeling the vegetables and chopping them up there is literally no work to do. Your oven does it all! It’s just plain delicious too, so it’s a win/win combination!
1 pound of well trimmed stewing beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp mixed herbs, or summer savoury
1 tin of condensed tomato soup (Campbells) (295g or 10 3/4 ounces)
1 soup tin of water
1 soup tin of water
1 single serving size envelope of cream of mushroom cup a soup mix
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (1/4 inch slices)
1/2 small Swede/ rutabaga, peeled and cut into cubes (1/2 inch cubes)
2 parsnips, peeled and thinly sliced (1/4 inch slices)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (1 inch cubes)
1/2 small Swede/ rutabaga, peeled and cut into cubes (1/2 inch cubes)
2 parsnips, peeled and thinly sliced (1/4 inch slices)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (1 inch cubes)
Pre-heat the oven to 230*C/450*F. Put your beef, onions and garlic into a deep casserole dish with a lid. Season with some salt and pepper to taste and then place the casserole (without the lid at this point) into the heated oven and bake for about 10 minutes, just until the meat is beginning to brown.
Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 160*C/350*F.
Put
soup, dry soup mix, and the water into the casserole dish along with the mixed herbs.
Put the lid on and bang it back into the oven and let it bake for about
an hour. At the end of the hour remove it from the oven and stir in the
vegetables. You may need to add more water as the mixture should have
reduced by then, and you want the liquid to just barely cover the
vegetables and meat. Put the lid back on and return the casserole to the
oven. Bake for another hour or until the vegetables and meat are
tender.
Remove from the oven and let stand for about 10 minutes before serving.
I've also heard this called Lazy Man's Stew. Lazy or Easy, no matter what you call it, you and your family are sure to love this simple stew. Bon Appetit!
In the summer months when we want something that little bit heartier for our dinner, the slow cooker becomes my best friend. If I don't want to be heating up the kitchen, the slow cooker is the way to go! I have three slow cookers. One in a large size for making dishes large enough to feed over 4 people, and two smaller ones which are perfectly sized for two people, a round one and an oval one, because a small round one doesn't always cut the mustard when it comes to slow cooking. A small oval one is perfect for small roasts, hams, etc.
Slow cooking lends itself perfectly to creating delicious dishes like this Lamb Tagine I am showing you here today. A Tagine is traditionally a Moroccan dish. I love the flavours of Moroccan food.
Moroccan cuisine is a delicious mix of Arabic, Andalusian, Mediterranean and Berber cuisine with a dash of European and Subsaharian influence thrown in for good measure. Think what we traditionally see as warm baking spices . . . cinnamon, ginger, mace, nutmeg and cloves . . . with some heat through in from cayenne and black pepper . . . and lemon. They love to use preserved lemons . . . leafy things like coriander . . . rose petals. And this is by no means a complete list, but merely a hint of the deliciousness involved.
They also love using tomatoes, dried apricots, dates, prunes . . . I love savoury dishes with dried fruit involved, and this one is just wonderful using both apricots and prunes . . . and zest of oranges . . .
The sauce is fragrant and delicious . . . sweet and savoury at the same time, with a tiny bit of heat, but not overpoweringly so . . .
The sauce/gravy is thickened with ground almonds or what you might know in American as almond meal, which lends a slight nuttiness into the mix . . . and then there is the sweetness of that oh so tender lamb . . .
Lamb was not something I had ever eaten a lot of before I moved over here to the UK. My only experience with it had been my mother cooking lamb chops once for us when I was a teenager. They smelled like burning wool when she was cooking them, and none of us would eat them. The thought of eating burning wool was not very appealing.
I can only think now that they were not very good lamb chops . . . because I have never had lamb over here that smelled like burning wool, or tasted like it for that matter. I truly love the taste . . . young tender lamb has a delicate almost sweet taste. Older lamb can taste a bit gamey, but its not bad either.
*Lamb Tagine*
Serves 2
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground sweet paprika
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp runny clear honey
I hope you will take advantage of your slow cooker this summer and make this delicious Moroccan stew! I think you will love it! Bon Appetit, or as they say in Morocco, بالصحة و العافية! Now that's what I would call a tongue twister, lol Serving it with peas and rice is so, so . . . well, English. In Morocco you would probably have it with couscous!
My Todd is a real stew and dumplings kind of a guy. We are running into warmer weather now and so I took advantage of the colder temps to make a nice big casserole of beef that I could divide up once cooked, and freeze ahead, along with some tasty dumplings, which you can also freeze ahead. That way in the warmer months ahead if Todd is wanting something hearty for his tea one day, I can just thaw the stew out and reheat it quickly with only a short time in the oven to brown the dumplings.
I adapted the dumpling recipe from one I found of Mary Berry's. I trust everything Mary Berry does and they sounded delicious. We both LOVE horseradish and I knew we would love these.
The dumpling dough gets patted out and is slathered with a horseradish and parsley mixture. I used creamed horseradish, but Mary Berry used Hot horseradish. I did not want to overpower anything and I don't like really spicy/hot food and so I used the creamed as it is milder.
Once you top the dough, you roll it up like a jelly roll and cut it into slices to pop onto the hot stew and then bake until golden brown. This was a gorgeous combination. Tender, flavourful beef stew/casserole and flaky buttery dumplings on top with just a hint of horseradish. I used half grated butter and suet in my dumplings this time because I didn't have enough suet and it worked just fine.
If anything they were better. I think you could also use the same amount of butter just alone or a mix of shortening and butter, in which case I would rub the fat into the flour with my fingertips until crumbly. Just look at how flaky they are.
This was totally delicious and I had one very happy man on my hands. I love it when that happens!
*Beef Stew With Herbed Dumplings*
Serves 6 - 8
Serves 6 - 8
Hearty and delicious! My own oven stew recipe with a lovely dumpling recipe borrowed from Mary Berry, and adapted to my own needs.
For the stew:
3 TBS olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 large carrots, peeled, sliced in half and then cut into half moon chunks
2 parsnips, peeled, sliced in half and cut into half moons
1/4 of a small swede, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 1/2 pounds good quality braising steak, cut into cubes
2 TBS plain flour
10 fluid ounces of beef stock (1 1/4 cups)
a bouquet garni (see note below)
5 fluid ounces of good red wine (generous half cup)
salt and black pepper
For the dumplings:
75g shredded suet (generous 1/3 cup, can use grated frozen butter or shortening)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
10 TBS cold water
3 TBS creamed horseradish
3 TBS chopped fresh parsley
Fresh parsley to garnish (optional)
Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Heat 1 TBS of the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion and garlic until softened. Add the vegetables and sweat for about 10 minutes. Scoop everything into a large casserole dish.
Trim the meat and cut it into thick chunks. Using the remaining oil, fry the meat in the same pan over high heat, stirring well until it is rown all over. Sprinkle with the flour and stir well to prevent lumps. Season well with salt and pepper. Over medium heat pour in the stock and the wine, stirring constantly to make a smooth sauce. Continue to heat to boiling. Carefully turn the contents into the casserole with the vegetables. Give it a good stir and then add the bouquet garni. Cover tightly and cook gently in the oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Make the dumpling dough
while the stew is baking. Sift the
flour, suet,salt and pepper into a bowl. Add enough of
the water to make a firm but soft dough. Gently pat out on a lightly
floured surface to a 6 by 8 inch rectangle. Mix together the horseradish
and parsley, along with some seasoning, not too much. Spread this over
top of the dough, making sure you spread it right to the edges. Roll
up tightly from the six inch side as if rolling a jelly roll (Swiss
roll.) Wrap in plastic cling film and store in the refrigerator until
you need it.
Once the stew is nicely cooked and the
meat tender, remove it from the oven. Remove and discard the bouquet
garni. Taste and adjust seasoning. Increase the oven temperature to
200*C.400*F/ gas mark 6. Cut the roll of dumpling dough into 8 evenly
sized rounds. Place onto the hot stew, cut side down, placing one in
the middle and the remaining ones around the outside. Return to the
oven and cook for a further half an hour, until the dumplings are cooked
through and achieve a golden crust. Remove from the oven.
Serve piping hot, sprinkled with the fresh parsley (if desired) and some mashed spuds on the side.
Note
- Today because there are only two of us, I divided the cooked stew
into several smaller containers to freeze after it was tender. I
returned just enough for one meal to a smaller casserole dish. Make sure
it is well heated for the dumplings. Cut your dumpling dough and place
four on top. The remainder can be frozen (sliced) for up to six
months. When you go to use this up. Heat the thawed stew to boiling and
then top with the frozen dumplings and proceed as above. It may take
slightly longer to cook the dumplings.
Note -The bouquet garni is a bundle of herbs usually tied together with string and mainly used to prepare soup, stock and stews. The bouquet is boiled with the other ingredients, but is removed prior to consumption.
There is no generic recipe for bouquet garni, but most recipes include parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Depending on the recipe, the bouquet garni may include basil, chernet, chervil, rosemary, tarragon, peppercorns and Savoury. Sometimes vegetables such as carrots, celery (with leaf attached) leeks, onion, celeriac and parsley root and are also included in the bouquet.
Sometimes, the bouquet is not bound with string, and its ingredients are filled into a small sachet, a net, or even a tea ball instead. Traditionally, the aromatics are bound within leek leaves, though a coffee filter and butcher twine can be used instead of leek.
If there is an important man or men in your life, I just know they will enjoy this! Bon Appetit!
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