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A few years ago I did a short series of posts entitled Recipes You Should Know By Heart. They were compilations of recipes which I thought every capable cook should know how to prepare without having to crack open a book.
Tried and trues. Family Favourites. That kind of thing.
I think I first fell in love with food and cooking when I was a very
young girl. My grandmother used to make exceptional soups, stews,
preserves, roasts, breads, cakes, cookies and preserves . . . simple
food, well prepared, using fresh ingredients or just whatever was in the
larder. Back in those days people rarely used recipes. They cooked by feel and by using methods and traditions that had been passed down from generation to generation.
There were not a lot of cookbooks available. Many recipes were kept in handwritten notebooks, with most being only lists of ingredients, relying instead on the cooks capacity to know what they were doing. Cooks cooked from memory . . . doing things the way their mothers had taught . . . cooking by instinct, feel . . . and taste.
Things were simple then and there weren't really many unknown, unusual,
or luxury ingredients available. These days we are so blessed to have
virtually a world of food and tastes at our fingertips. Even so, there
are some dishes which we should really know how to do from heart,
without a recipe.
Oh . . . yes, we can follow a recipe the first time
we make them, but with time and experience, these are the recipes which
we can become so adept at using that we rarely need to look them up
again, and indeed we can put our own stamps on them. They become
recipes we know by heart, and these are mine.
Every cook should know how to make a very basic tomato sauce. This is
how I make mine. I can do it with my eyes closed and after many years
of making it I can increase it to serve large groups and add other
flavours and textures to suit the dish I am cooking.
This is the basis
for many other tomato sauces, simply by adding a few herbs, some sauteed
onion, perhaps bacon, mince, etc.
This is a simple sauce which uses fresh tomatoes when they are in season, and good tinned tomatoes when they are not.
2 to 3 large, ripe unpeeled tomatoes, cut into chunks
(Or one 400g tin of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice (14.5 oz))
1 TBS butter or olive oilMy mother discovered oregano when I was a teenager and a recipe for chili con carne on the back of a tomato soup tin. That because the basic Saturday night supper for years as my father really loved it. A good chili is a recipe that is very easy to master and very adaptable. Most people like it and it's quite economical. It's also one of those dishes which tastes better for having sat over night.
Bechamel Sauce is the basis for many other sauces. It is a creamy white and rich sauce.
A good bechamel is the basis for many dishes
such as souffles, or macaroni and cheese. The foolproof way to achieve a
perfectly smooth sauce is to have the milk hot when you add it to the
butter and flour. It uses an extra pot, but perfection is perfection.
Once you have mastered a bechamel sauce you have opened the window to many other delicious things such as Creamed Peas on Toast or Broccoli and Cauliflower Cheese.
*White Sauce or Bechamel Sauce*
Makes 225ml or one cup
Makes 225ml or one cup
salt
freshly ground black pepper
I wish I had a dollar for every pancake I have ever cooked in my life. They were a pretty standard weekend treat for my children the whole time they were growing up. Of course you can use a mix, but really nothing beats the deliciousness of a homemade pancake. They are so simple to do as well. I can do them with my eyes closed.
Once you have mastered the art making a good basic pancake, you have the ability to play with the recipe and create many other options!
The
amount of milk you use will determine how thick these pancakes will
be. Start off with the smaller amount which is suggested and add more
only if the batter seems too thick. I try to have all of my ingredients
at room temperature before starting and as with most quick breads, take
care not to over beat. A few lumps are quite acceptable. You can
make lighter, fluffier pancakes by separating the egg yolk and white,
adding the yolk with the milk, and then beating the white until stiff
and folding it in last of all. Serve with maple syrup or honey.
120 to 150ml of milk (1/2 to 3/4 cup)Variations:
If you have a carton of eggs in the refrigerator, you have the makings of a quick and easy meal. We all have days where we don't really feel much like cooking. Those are the kinds of days which are made for a simple supper of scrambled or fried eggs on toast or even an omelet.
Knowing how to scramble, fry or make an omelet are very basic skills that anyone can pick up quite easily.
Scrambled eggs are not something that you want to cook in a hurry . . . slow and steady definitely wins the race here.
It's not that hard to cook scrambled eggs properly, although some people do seem to be a bit mystified as just how to proceed, and still others seem to overcook them so much that they end up as dry little rubbery curds. What you are looking for is something that luxuriously, meltingly creamy.
First of all you need to start with a good egg. I know I don't need to lecture you on the difference between a cage grown egg and a free range egg . . . we've all heard that spiel . . . Let's just say that I prefer to pay more and use free range. For me it's more than just taste . . . it's a matter of conscience.
You want to use a skillet that's not overly heated, in other word, warm, but not hot. Then you want a nice lump of butter, softly foaming in the pan . . . and finally you want the perfect mix of beaten eggs, cream and milk.
You add this mixture to the warm pan, and then you just let it sit
without disturbing it . . . not for long . . . just long enough that it
begins to set on the bottom. Only then do you want to start moving
the eggs. I like to use a wooden spatula or spoon.
I commence to folding my eggs, slowly . . . from the outside edges into the centre of the pan. Not stirring . . . but folding . . . a constant, and slow movement . . . which I keep doing . . . just until the eggs are almost set, but still moist.
At this point you will want to take them right off the heat. The eggs will continue to cook for a bit longer from the residual heat in the pan, but what you end up with is a lovely moist product, not dry at all.
Perfectly scrambled eggs make a delicious light supper with either some buttered toast or even simple buttered bread.
*Cheese and Chive Scrambled Eggs*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
Fresh
chives and a good strong cheddar together with perfectly scrambled
eggs, create a hearty breakfast dish just packed with flavour.
12 large free range eggs
2 ounces whole milk
2 ounces cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 TBS butter
4 TBS finely chopped fresh chives
4 ounces of a good farmhouse strong cheddar cheese, grated
(I use Davidstow)
Whisk the eggs, milk, cream salt, black pepper and hot pepper sauce
together in a large bowl. Heat the 2 TBS of butter in a large nonstick
skillet over medium heat. Once the butter begins to foam add the eggs.
Allow to sit for several minutes, without stirring, so that the eggs
can begin to set on the bottom. Begin to draw a wooden spatula or spoon
across the bottom of the skillet to form large curds. Cook, continuing
to fold the eggs with the spoon slowly, working from the outside edges
into the middle until the eggs are thickened but still moist. Do not
stir constantly or you will end up with small curds, you want thick
moist ribbons. Remove from the heat to a warm platter. Sprinkle the hot
eggs with cheese and the chives. Serve hot with warm toast, if
desired.
Nothing screams Home Sweet Home more than a delicious Roast Chicken. I could easily roast and enjoy a succulent Roast Chicken every Sunday. Done properly it is a thing of beauty and a properly Roasted Chicken affords you so much more than just the roast on the day, depending on the size of your chicken. 
You can't beat a nicely roasted chicken. Simple. Easy to prepare. Deliciously succulent.
1 large free range roasting chicken (between 3 1/2 and 5 pounds in weight)
a few knobs of softened butter
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a sprig of thyme
a couple cloves of garlic, peeled
the juice of half a lemon
This is a very simple and easy soup to make. I often use the carcass from a roast chicken to make this, saving some chicken from the roast to use as well. As I always cut up chickens myself to use in other recipes, I usually always have bags of chicken backs and necks in the freezer as well, which are very good when used in this soup! Its amazing what you can do with a few bones and some vegetables!
1 spent chicken carcass (if there is not a lot of meat left on the carcass you can add a few chicken wings or a leg)
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 carrot, unpeeled and cut in half
1 stalk of celery
Handful of celery leaves
1 onion, unpeeled, cut in half, root end removed
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper
To finish:
1 carrot peeled and grated
¼ of a swede peeled and grated
1/2 mug full of Stelline Pasta (star shaped pasta, about 1/2 cup, or more as desired)
Put your chicken carcass in a pot and cover with boiling water. Add the bay leaf, thyme, carrot, celery, celery leaves, onion and salt and pepper. Bring back to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 ½ hours to 2 hours. Strain broth into a clean pot. Discard vegetables and pick off as much meat as you can from off of the bones. Cut into small chunks. Bring broth to a boil and reduce somewhat. Taste and adjust seasoning. (If it is not very strong you can add a TBS or two of Marigold vegetable stock powder, but it really shouldn‘t be necessary.)
Add the grated vegetables and the Stelline pasta. Bring to the boil and then reduce to low and simmer for about 15 minutes until cooked. Add the diced chicken meat. Heat through and then ladle into hot bowls. Serve with some nice crusty bread or rolls.
Next up I am showing you how to make a very basic stew. You can use beef cubes, or pork or lamb for this, or even venison. This is a very basic recipe. Once you master this and can make it without a recipe, you can branch out and begin to add other flavours, such as a bit of horseradish, some balsamic vinegar, even sweet pickle juice. You can even use leftover wine for added flavour instead of water. All are beautiful additions.
Remove from the heat. Stir
in the cheeses until the cheese melts. Season to taste with salt and
black pepper and serve immediately. Delicious!
(trim of any fat and gristle and discard)
salt and black pepper
flour to roll the meat in
a knob of butter
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 stalk of celery, trimmed and chopped
3 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
1 parsnip, peeled and cut into coins
1/2 a small rutabaga (swede) peeled and cut into cubes
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 TBS tomato ketchup
Note - if you wish a thick gravy you can shake a tablespoon of flour in a jar with about 110ml or 1/2 cup of cold water until smooth. Stir this into the stew and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Cook for several minutes to cook out the flavour of the flour. 
Make
sure your soup or stew mixture is bubbling. Drop the dumpling mixture
on top of the hot stew by the spoonful, trying to keep it on top of any
vegetables and meat. Cover tightly and cook for 10 to 15 minutes
without lifting the lid. The dumplings are done when you can insert a
toothpick into the centre of one and it comes out clean. 
For the smaller family a roast chicken is a delicious alternative to roasting a large turkey at the holidays. This year due to the pandemic, many of us will not be able to travel to our family's during the holidays, so having a roast chicken only makes sense.
Leftovers are great for sandwiches or casseroles and then there is always that lovely carcass ready to be used for stock and soups.
I always choose to buy the best chicken that I can afford. Free range and corn-fed are the best, but you need to make this choice according to your budget.
How to Prepare a Chicken for Roasting
It goes without saying that when you are spending a bit of money on a nice piece of poultry you will want to treat it with respect. Here are my tips for making the perfect roast chicken!
Before you roast the chicken, you will want to pat it dry with some paper kitchen towelling. This results in a crisper, tastier skin.
I like to tie the chicken’s legs together after stuffing it with anything I might be stuffing it with, prior to roasting. This helps the chicken to keep its shape during its roasting.
If you are roasting a chicken on its own, it helps to place the chicken onto a greased rack I the baking dish. This helps to prevent the chicken from sticking to the dish.
Pouring a small amount of liquid in the baking dish helps to create steam which helps to keep your roasting chicken moist. You don’t need much, only about ¾ of a cup. This can be stock or wine, or both.
Once your chicken has roasted and has been taken from the oven, remove it from the roasting dish to a platter, tent with foil and allow it to “rest” for about 15 minutes. This helps the juices to settle back into the meat and will reward you with a much more succulent finish. Cutting into it too soon will release all those lovely juices that you really want to retain.
*A Simple Roast Chicken*
Serves 4 - 6
Serves 4 - 6
1 large free range roasting chicken (between 3 1/2 and 5 pounds in weight)
a few knobs of softened butter
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a sprig of thyme
a couple cloves of garlic, peeled
the juice of half a lemon
225ml of chicken stock (1 cups)
1 TBS flour
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready a nice deep roasting pan.
Take
your chicken and season it liberally inside with salt and pepper.
Stuff in the thyme into the cavity, along with the garlic, and a large
knob of butter. Rub the remaining butter all over the outside of the
chicken, pushing some of it beneath the skin of the breast between the
skin and the flesh, taking care not to tear the skin. Place the chicken
into the roasting tin. Season it with salt and pepper on the outside,
and then squeeze the lemon juice over all. Put the spent lemon half
into the cavity of the chicken as well. Pour the chicken stock
into the roasting tin around the chicken.
Roast the
chicken for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, basting with the pan juices from time
to time. When done the juices should run clear from the chicken when
pierces
between the thigh and the breast and the legs should feel quite loose
when gently twisted. Remove from the oven. Remove the chicken to a
serving platter and tent loosely with foil. Allow it to rest while you
make the gravy.
To make the gravy, pour the pan juices out into a measuring jug. Pour a bit of boiling water in the pan and scrape up any juicy browned bits. Pour this into the measuring jug. Spoon about 2 TBS of the fat from the jug into a saucepan. Discard the remainder of the fat. Heat over medium heat until bubbling. Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute. Slowly whisk in the pan juices, whisking until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken slightly. Season to taste. Allow to simmer over low heat for a few minutes to get rid of any flour taste.
Serve the chicken sliced, along with some of the gravy and any vegetables which you have prepared.
To make the gravy, pour the pan juices out into a measuring jug. Pour a bit of boiling water in the pan and scrape up any juicy browned bits. Pour this into the measuring jug. Spoon about 2 TBS of the fat from the jug into a saucepan. Discard the remainder of the fat. Heat over medium heat until bubbling. Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute. Slowly whisk in the pan juices, whisking until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken slightly. Season to taste. Allow to simmer over low heat for a few minutes to get rid of any flour taste.
Serve the chicken sliced, along with some of the gravy and any vegetables which you have prepared.
Now that you have a roasted chicken and have eaten all that you want from it, you will want to make yourself a delicious soup. Its not at all very hard to do and can really help to make your hard earned dollars go a lot further.
There is nothing tastier to make with the spent carcass of your roasted
chicken than a beautiful big pot of chicken soup. My mother taught me
how to make soup and she never used a recipe. She could make soup out
of just about anything. A soup is only as good as it's stock. Here
is my foolproof recipe for making a beautiful chicken soup that is sure
to become a family favourite.
*Chicken With Stars Soup*
Serves 4-6
Serves 4-6
This is a very simple and easy soup to make. I often use the carcass from a roast chicken to make this, saving some chicken from the roast to use as well. As I always cut up chickens myself to use in other recipes, I usually always have bags of chicken backs and necks in the freezer as well, which are very good when used in this soup! Its amazing what you can do with a few bones and some vegetables!
1 spent chicken carcass (if there is not a lot of meat left on the carcass you can add a few chicken wings or a leg)
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 carrot, unpeeled and cut in half
1 stalk of celery
Handful of celery leaves
1 onion, unpeeled, cut in half, root end removed
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper
To finish:
1 carrot peeled and grated
¼ of a swede peeled and grated
Put your chicken carcass in a pot and cover with boiling water. Add the bay leaf, thyme, carrot, celery, celery leaves, onion and salt and pepper. Bring back to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 ½ hours to 2 hours. Strain broth into a clean pot. Discard vegetables and pick off as much meat as you can from off of the bones. Cut into small chunks. Bring broth to a boil and reduce somewhat. Taste and adjust seasoning. (If it is not very strong you can add a TBS or two of Marigold vegetable stock powder, but it really shouldn‘t be necessary.)
Add the grated vegetables and the Stelline pasta. Bring to the boil and then reduce to low and simmer for about 15 minutes until cooked. Add the diced chicken meat. Heat through and then ladle into hot bowls. Serve with some nice crusty bread or rolls.
Next up I am showing you how to make a very basic stew. You can use beef cubes, or pork or lamb for this, or even venison. This is a very basic recipe. Once you master this and can make it without a recipe, you can branch out and begin to add other flavours, such as a bit of horseradish, some balsamic vinegar, even sweet pickle juice. You can even use leftover wine for added flavour instead of water. All are beautiful additions.
Another thing I like to make from scratch rather than from a box is Stove Top Mac and Cheese. My sister gave me this recipe many years ago and it has been an old stand by ever since. Why pay a premium price for a boxes Mac and Cheese when making your own is such a simple thing and so much tastier!
*Stove Top Mac and Cheese*
Serves 4
So easy to make and incredibly tasty!
2 cups (480ml) water
2 cups (230g) dry macaroni
1 cup (240ml) milk
2 TBS butter
2 cups (245g) grated strong cheddar cheese
2 TBS finely grated parmesan cheese
salt and black pepper to taste
Heat
and stir the water, macaroni, milk and butter over medium heat for 15
minutes until the macaroni is al dente stirring frequently. Should take
about 15 minutes.
Who doesn't melt at the sight of a warm plate of Baking Powder Biscuits. They were one of the first things I learned how to make.
These are one of the most basic of the quick breads and I have never known anyone to turn a well made biscuit down. The important thing to remember about biscuits is to use a light touch with them. Over working them toughens them.
Pat them out gently and cut them out with a sharp cutter, using a very sharp quick straight up and down motion and your biscuits will always be perfect!
*Baking Powder Biscuits*
Makes 16
Printable Recipe
Golden brown and crusty outside, meltingly tender inside.
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1 TBS sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2/3 cup of milk
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 6. Grease two 8 inch cake tins. Set aside.
Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar together in a bowl. Drop in the shortening and cut it into the flour mixture with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk all at once and stur just until the dough forms a ball around the fork. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead about 14 times. Pat out to 1/2 inch thickness. Stamp out rounds with a 2 inch biscuit cutter, giving it a sharp tap straight down and up again. Do not twist. Place touching each other in the cake pans and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
If you like biscuits with crusty edges all around, place them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet to bake instead.
Makes 16
Printable Recipe
Golden brown and crusty outside, meltingly tender inside.
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1 TBS sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2/3 cup of milk
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 6. Grease two 8 inch cake tins. Set aside.
Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar together in a bowl. Drop in the shortening and cut it into the flour mixture with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk all at once and stur just until the dough forms a ball around the fork. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead about 14 times. Pat out to 1/2 inch thickness. Stamp out rounds with a 2 inch biscuit cutter, giving it a sharp tap straight down and up again. Do not twist. Place touching each other in the cake pans and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
If you like biscuits with crusty edges all around, place them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet to bake instead.
Next up I am showing you how to make a very basic stew. You
can use beef cubes, or pork or lamb for this, or even venison. This is
a very basic recipe. Once you master this and can make it without a
recipe, you can branch out and begin to add other flavours, such as a
bit of horseradish, some balsamic vinegar, even sweet pickle juice. You
can even use leftover wine for added flavour instead of water. All
are beautiful additions.
*A Basic Stew*
Serves 4
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
This is the very basic recipe for a delicious stew. You can use beef, or pork, or lamb, or venison and it will come out perfectly every time. The secret is in the browning.
1 pound of stewing meat, cut into 1 inch cubesThis is the very basic recipe for a delicious stew. You can use beef, or pork, or lamb, or venison and it will come out perfectly every time. The secret is in the browning.
a knob of butter
hot water to cover
beef stock cube
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
Season
your meat and roll it in flour to coat. Melt the knob of butter in a
large heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the meat and brown it well on all
sides working in batches. Don't over crowd your pan or your meat won't
brown well. Browning it well is the secret to a nicely coloured
gravy. Remove the meat to a bowl as it browns and repeat until all the
meat has been browned. Add the onions and celery to the pan. Saute
until softened. Return the meat to the pan along with any juices that
have accumlated in the bowl. Add enough hot water to barely cover the
meat along with the worcestershire sauce, ketchup, stock cube, thyme and
bay leaf. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, tightly
covered at a slow simmer for about an hour. Add the carrot, parsnip
and rutabaga. Cover and cook for about half an hour longer. Add the
potato cubes and cover again. Cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes
until the vegetables are tender and the meat is falling apart. Taste
and adjust seasoning as required. Serve hot with plenty of crusty bread
for sopping up all the juices.Note - if you wish a thick gravy you can shake a tablespoon of flour in a jar with about 110ml or 1/2 cup of cold water until smooth. Stir this into the stew and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Cook for several minutes to cook out the flavour of the flour.
Now that you have the stew made you are going to want to make some dumplings to drop on top and enjoy with your stew. When I was a child it was always a great day when my mother made stew and dumplings.
They are quick and easy to make. Just try not to peek into the pan when they are cooking and you will be okay!
*Basic Dumplings*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
Quick and easy and oh so tasty. A must with some soups and always with stew.
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup (240ml) milk
Quickly
whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the milk all at
once and mix only to combine. Let rest for a few minutes.
So there you have it. Ten basic delicious recipes that everyone should know how to make by heart. These are my ten basics. What are yours? I really want to know!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
(My tiny kitchen)
I think I first fell in love with food and cooking when I was a very young girl. My grandmother used to make exceptional soups, stews, preserves, roasts, breads, cakes, cookies and preserves . . . simple food, well prepared, using fresh ingredients or just whatever was in the larder. I don't think she had a cookery book collection. At best she might have had a community cookbook filled with recipes collected from the ladies in the community, or hand written recipe receipts given to her from friends . . . possibly a cookbook put out by the flour companies. For the most part she cooked from memory . . . doing things the way her mother had taught her . . . cooking by instinct, feel . . . taste.
Things were simple then and there weren't really many unknown, unusual, or luxury ingredients available. These days we are so blessed to have virtually a world of food and tastes at our fingertips. Even so, there are some dishes which we should really know how to do from heart, without a recipe. Oh . . . yes, we can follow a recipe the first time we make them, but with time and experience, these are the recipes which we can become so adept at using that we rarely need to look them up again, and indeed we can put our own stamps on them. They become recipes we know by heart, and these are mine.
A big Sunday tradition over here in the UK is the roast dinner. People either cook one at home, or they go out to have one at a restaurant . . . roast meat (beef, gammon, turkey, lamb, pork), with roast potatoes, veg, gravy etc. Oh and Yorkshire puddings. They're a must. We never have a roast dinner on a Sunday. By the time we get home from church and I call my mom, etc., there just isn't the time and to be honest I am pretty tired by then. So, I save our roast dinners for other days. On Sundays, we usually have something which I have either remembered to put in the slow cooker before we left for church, or I whip up something quick like these Bacon & Cheese Omelettes.
I picked up a small package of stew beef at the grocery store the other day because I had in mind to make myself a pot of stew. We've had some really nasty weather recently and I was really craving comfort food.
There is nothing quite like a nice bowl of beef stew on a cold winter's day for bringing comfort into your life.
There no shortage of stew recipes here on the blog. It is a real family favorite. Stew with Dumplings is a real winner. This is a recipe sized for two.
This Oven Braised Stew is also really enjoyed from time to time. We are also no strangers to delicious Lamb Stew. Stew has been bringing comfort and sustenance to my home for many, many years.
Like I said, I had in mind to make a nice stew with the beef, but then I spied this recipe on TOH for Tender Beef and Noodles for Two. It looked really appealing.
I decided to go with it. I had everything in the house, including the egg noodles. I didn't want to dig out my slow cooker however, so I adapted the recipe to cook it in my cast iron Dutch oven on top of the stove. It was delicious!!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE TENDER BEEF AND NOODLES FOR TWO
Very simple ingredients. I am sure you probably have everything in your home to make this delicious entrée today! It looks like a long list of ingredients, but trust me when I tell you they are very simple things, and not a lot is needed of any one thing.
- 1/2 pound (8 ounces) lean boneless stewing beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp canola oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 cup (240ml) water divided
- 1/3 cup (80g) tomato ketchup
- 1 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 cup (90g) uncooked egg noodles
- 1 1/2 TBS plain all purpose flour
Small amounts of a variety of ingredients combine deliciously to make a fabulously tasty gravy. It almost has a hint of BBQ, but at the same time is completely different than BBQ.
Its rich and sweet and tangy, all at the same time. Plus the dry mustard powder gives it a tiny bit of heat, which is most pleasant.
HOW TO MAKE TENDER BEEF AND NOODLES FOR TWO
Like I said, the original recipe was meant to be cooked in the slow cooker. That process would have taken five hours however, and I just didn't want to wait five hours!
And so I adapted the instructions, etc. in order to cook it in a pot on top of the stove. The main difference was the amount of liquid, and the flour used to thicken it at the end.
Cooking this in the slow cooker would produce much more liquid and so you would naturally need more flour at the end to thicken the gravy. I basically cut the amount of flour in half as I did not have as many juices and didn't need the same amount of flour to thicken what I have.
In fact, I thought the gravy was a bit too thick with what I used and so I thinned it out a bit with boiling water. Judge accordingly. You know how thick or thin you like your gravy.
Have ready a small flame proof Dutch oven. Prepare your meat and onions.
Heat the oil in the Dutch oven until hot. Add the beef and onions. Brown all over in the hot oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Add half of the water, along with the ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and dry mustard. Give it a good stir, bring to the boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.
Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the meat is falling apart and very tender. Check periodically to make sure it is not boiling dry. You can add a bit more water if it seems low.
Whisk the flour together with the remaining water until smooth. Whisk into the meat, stirring constantly until the gravy thickens. Simmer over low heat while you cook the noodles.
Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain well.
Serve the noodles, buttered if desired, with half of the meat mixture spooned over top and a vegetable or salad on the side.
This was really good. I happened to have egg noodles on hand, but I think it would be good served with any kind of pasta.
Bow ties, fusilli, fettuccini, corkscrew pasta, even macaroni would be nice with this.
Of course, if you are not a fan of pasta or noodles, you could also serve this tender meat in gravy with mounds of buttery fluffy mashed potatoes, or even rice.
At the end of the day its all about what brings you personal joy. I like pasta myself and I especially love noodles, but this would be delicious no matter what carb you choose to serve it with! You just want something which is going to cradle that delicious meat and sauce.
I had some brussels sprouts which needed using up and so that is the vegetable I chose to serve on the side, but in truth any vegetable would go well. Enjoy!!
Beef and Noodles for Two
Yield: 2
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 15 M
Tender pieces of beef in a delicious gravy spooned over egg noodles. This makes for a fabulously tasty supper for two with a vegetable or a salad on the side.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound (8 ounces) lean boneless stewing beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp canola oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 cup (240ml) water divided
- 1/3 cup (80g) tomato ketchup
- 1 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 cup (90g) uncooked egg noodles
- 1 1/2 TBS plain all purpose flour
Instructions
- Have ready a small flame proof Dutch oven. Prepare your meat and onions.
- Heat the oil in the Dutch oven until hot. Add the beef and onions. Brown all over in the hot oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Add half of the water, along with the ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and dry mustard. Give it a good stir, bring to the boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the meat is falling apart and very tender. Check periodically to make sure it is not boiling dry. You can add a bit more water if it seems low.
- Whisk the flour together with the remaining water until smooth. Whisk into the meat, stirring constantly until the gravy thickens. Simmer over low heat while you cook the noodles.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
- Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain well.
- Serve the noodles, buttered if desired, with half of the meat mixture spooned over top and a vegetable or salad on the side.
Notes:
Optionally this can be cooked in the slow cooker. Brown the meat and onions as above, then put together with the remaining ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until the meat is tender, about 5 hours. Increase the flour to 3 TBS and whisk together with the water. Whisk into the meat mixture in the slow cooker. Cover and cook for a further 30 minutes until thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
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