Wednesday 2 October 2013

Beef, Squash and Chestnut Stew

I know it's not exactly cold outside just yet but when the leaves start to change it definitely gets me in an autumn mood...especially in the kitchen! 
I took a trip to one of my local supermarkets and came upon some wonderful looking squash, and of course I picked them up knowing that i would use them...one way or another. 
This time it had to be in a nice warming autumnal stew, I had some chestnuts leftover as well so I decided these would work well in it as well as the squash with the cubes beef I had, so after spending most of my preperation time cutting these squash up ( I may have muscles like arnie now hehe) I had made the most wonderful smelling stew which after the 2 1/2 hours had filled the house with the most wonderful warming smell. 
This is a really simple stew (except maybe for the cutting up of the squash) throw it all in one pan, pop it in the oven, add dumplings if you like and bobs your uncle ...fantastic family meal :))

Beef, Squash and Chestnut Stew

400g cubed beef
100g kabocha squash
100g butternut squash
100g onion squash
1/2 courgette chopped
1 onion chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tsp thyme 
1 tsp rosemary
1/4 bottle red wine
500ml beef stock
1 tsp tomato purée
100g chestnuts (pre cooked) chopped
5 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Flour

Dumplings
125g self raising flour
62.5g butter cold
Milk
Salt and pepper

Pour some flour into a bowl and season the beef with salt and pepper, then roll into the flour

In a casserole pan, and heat some oil. Add the onion and carrots and cook for around 10 minutes until softened, add the garlic, thyme and rosemary and cook for a further minute.

Add the beef and cook for a couple of minutes (not too long, you don't want to cook it)

Add the vegetables and mix through and add the red wine and turn up the heat and bubble for a minute to burn away the alcohol. Add the stock, and tomato purée and mix through. Add the chestnuts and bay leaves, salt and pepper and stir in, pop on a lid and pop into a pre heated oven (150/140c fan) for around 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

To make the dumplings

In a bowl add the flour, some salt and pepper and cut the cold butter into cubes and using your fingers rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs

Pour a small amount of milk into the flour/butter mixture and mix until you get a soft dough, you may need to add milk slowly until you get the right consistency (use your hands to bind the dough together as if you use a knife, it doesn't always come together until it gets to gooey)

Split into 5 and shape into balls

About half an hour until the stew is done, remove the stew from the oven, take off the lid and pop the dumplings in. Return to the oven with the lid on for another half an hour and remove and serve with potatoes and vegetables 


Tuesday 1 October 2013

Leftovers recipe - chicken and vegetable lasagne

I must say when it comes to cooking I do like to use fresh ingredients but as mentioned before it's become important to start using everything from leftovers to the last bits left in the fridge so I have been on a mission to see how far I can take foods...from my two curries using leftover Sunday dinner to now using up leftover chicken. This is a really simple recipe which I think most of us like but twisting it to work with what I had leftover. I adore lasagne, it has to be one of my favourite comfort foods. Granted I don't cook it as much, due to the fact that when I do I eat practically the whole lot so I tend to make it every so often. Using leftover chicken and some vegetables that were in need of being used up actually turned up to be a really cheap and extremely satisfying meal, I didn't just add the chicken to the vegetables, I actually made two different layers of flavours which complemented each other perfectly and it got a huge thumbs up from my son. 

If you have any leftover chicken try out my filling, cheap and very tasty lasagne :))

Chicken and Vegetable Lasagne

Vegetable layer
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 sprig of rosemary chopped
1 tsp oregano
1 courgette chopped into quarters
1 aubergine cut into small pieces
2 peppers cut into bits
1 1/2 tin plum tomatoes 
Salt and pepper

Chicken layer
Leftover chicken about 300g
40g pancetta cubes
100g mushrooms chopped

Cheese sauce
500ml milk
2 heaped tbsp cornflour
Knob of butter
Grated cheese (to your taste- I prefer not too cheesy)

Lasagne sheets
Mozzarella - I pack buffalo mozzarella sliced 

In a pan add some oil and heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, add the garlic and cook for a further minute and then add the herbs and cook for another minute

Add the vegetables (you may need a little more oil) and cook through for around 5 minutes on a medium heat (you don't want to cook too much as you don't want soggy vegetables)

Pour in the plum tomatoes and stir through. Add a good amount of salt and pepper and stir in. Simmer for around 10 minutes and remove from the heat

In a jug add the milk and stir in the cornflour
In a small saucepan on a high heat, melt the butter and once melted add the jug of milk and stir until the sauce begins to thicken, this will be when it starts to boil. Once thickened add the cheese and stir in to melt and turn the heat down to a slow simmer for a couple more minutes and remove from the heat

In a pan add some oil and on a medium heat add the pancetta, mushrooms and cook through for a couple of minutes and then add the leftover chicken and stir through. Cook this until well cooked and heated through and then add 2 large serving spoons worth of the cheese sauce and stir through and heat for a further minute and remove from the heat

To assemble to lasagne

In a large oven proof dish pour in just over half the vegetable mixture into the bottom of the dish and place half the mozzarella over the vegetables, lay over the lasagne sheets.
Spoon all the chicken mixture over the lasagne sheet and top with more lasagne sheets.
Spoon over the remaining vegetable mixture and top with the rest of the mozzarella, lay over the some lasagne sheets and pour over the remaining cheese sauce

Pop into a pre heated oven at 180/170c fan and cook through for around 30 minutes until golden on top and the lasagne sheets have cooked through ;))