Chilly spring days? Perfect!

My mum collects her favourite magazines over the year, and then gradually passes old ones on (to me!). That is why, in an old Country Homes and Interiors, I found a fabulous recipe for beef stew, and having found a couple of packs of diced beef in the back of the freezer, ignored the sunshine, and went ahead with a normally autumnal bake. The results were delicious and now, a week later, H and I have had the pleasure of leftovers (previously frozen, of course!).

Luckily for us, today has been chilly and cloudy for the most part. The spring sunshine has gone away for a while and we all wait in anticipation of those warm summer evenings to come. The veggie patch is showing signs of life, but with my new found challenge, I have found myself obsessed by the weather reports and even gasped aloud when the presenter suggested there might be a frost one morning this week! My only thoughts were 'how am I going to protect my seedlings without squashing them with a blanket?' - oh dear, I think I have the gardening bug!



These photos are now a couple of days old. It's amazing how quickly they shoot once they get through the ground! All the seeds have sprouted, and now I am waiting to thin them a little, well, if the snails and slugs don't get there first anyway! Netting keeps the birds away, but slugs are a different matter...

Back in the kitchen, Spiced Beef and Black Treacle Stew is planned (with the usual tweak here and there!), with sweet potato mash.

Spiced Beef, Black Bean and Black Treacle Stew

900g diced beef steak
1 tbsp plain flour
seasoning
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, sliced
3 large carrots, sliced
1 green chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely
1 carton passata (approx 500g)
1 tsp allspice
1 tbsp dried mixed herbs
4 tbsp black treacle
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 carton black beans (approx 380g)

Preheat the oven to 130 C and heat the butter in a frying pan, along with the oil to stop it burning.
Dust the beef with seasoned flour, and then pop into the hot oil to brown the meat. Do this in batches to allow each piece to brown properly.
Remove the beef to a warm casserole dish.
In the frying pan, fry the onions and carrots slowly, allowing them to soften.
Add the chilli, passata, allspice, herbs, treacle, soy sauce and black beans.
Allow this mixture to come to the boil, and then tip carefully over the meat in the casserole.
Cover with a lid and pop into the warm oven.
Cook for 4-5 hours.
(If you want it quicker, heat the oven to 150 C and cook for 2 hours).
After this time, the stew will be thick, black and smells divine!

Serve poured over a pile of delicious sweet potato, mashed and some simply steamed veg. Second time round, I grated some Pecorino cheese into the mash too - yum!

Luscious, rich and tasty!







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