View Full Version : it's been a long time since I did any real cooking, sort me out a simple stew.
Tomorrow I want to make a simple basic stew/casserole for the family. The kids aren't keen on vegetables (yay) so anything that I put in will need to be chopped up quite finely and perhaps the dish should cook for so long that it's practically all liquid.
I also want the meat to be so tender that it can be lightly sucked and it'll fall apart.
What are the chances of me being able to do this tomorrow? Should I really be marinading the meat for a day first?
Anyone got a suitable recipe I can use, or have a link to something simple?
Dymetrie
04-01-2008, 00:30
*cracks knuckles*
OK....
Get some stewing steak, a few onions, some garlic, a shedload of mushrooms and a couple of carrots...
Chop up the onions and garlic (either press the garlic or slice finely).
Cut the steak into 1" cubes.
Dump a 1.5" slice of lard into a saucepan and melt it... Then chuck in the steak and onions/garlic...
Fry until the steak is browned and the onions/garlic are translucent.
Sprinkle a tablespoon of flour over everything and stir a bit while you boil a pint of water.
Pour the water over the concoction and then crumble in a beefy oxo cube. Bring to the boil and add some black pepper (as much as you need) and half a glass of red wine.
Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour...
At this point then slice the carrots and throw them in. Cover and simmer for a further 45 minutes.
Add the mushrooms (washed and stems chopped off. I advise baby mushrooms as then you can leave them whole, which rocks!).
Make some dumplings (2flour to 1suet with a pinch of salt, add water until you have a good mixture), drop them in in lumps and continue to simmer (covered) for a further 30 minutes or until you're happy with how the dumplings look.
Dish up and devour :D
Sounds good but sadly without the mushrooms. I only have a small pan and there isn't mush room to get them in.
Oh wow!!! Thanks Dym!!! Have been after a stew recipe myself :D
Looking for an American Baked cheesecake recipe too.
Mmmmm dumplings!!!
BB x
I'd put the carrots in at the start then they will break down to mush. I also put pearl barley in mine about an hour from the end and pasta about 20 minutes from the end. You'll need about a kilo of beef, two onions and 4 carrots I'd say. And don't forget to make Dym's dumplings ;)
Dymetrie
04-01-2008, 10:15
I could have just linked to this... (http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4815)
:embarassed:
This has been postponed until the weekend.
There are some good "one pot" recipes in Good Food this month. I'll scan the page in and post it later :)
Justsomebloke
05-01-2008, 15:32
Good effort Feek.
I also need some Quick & Simple meals to do. I read all the other funky cooking threads but my cupboards don't extend to all your funky products. Keep it simple :p
It doesn't get much simpler than this, throw a few bits in a pan and wait!
Tomorrow is the day. Well, today - Sunday.
Dymetrie
06-01-2008, 04:26
Good luck Feekles :)
You've got my number if you have any questions ;)
Dymetrie
06-01-2008, 18:04
He's cooking!
Has called me once and is drinking the wine :p
I hope he is taking plenty of progress pics :)
Dymetrie
06-01-2008, 18:15
I did remind him...
Along with reports from the victims :D
No pics, it's just a lightly bubbling can.
The kids have the attitude already of "not eating that muck" but they'll learn.
Dymetrie
06-01-2008, 18:31
Or go to bed with nothing?
That's the second of two options. The first being eat what I've got bubbling.
Stan_Lite
06-01-2008, 18:40
What used to happen when I was a kid was that anything that didn't get eaten was served up for the next meal and the process repeated until it was eaten.
Garden peas for breakfast is not nice - especially when you genuinely don't like the taste of them :(
Soon learned to eat everything on my plate though.
Edit: Hope the stew turns out all right :)
Dymetrie
06-01-2008, 19:00
Mine was:
You'll get what you're given and say thank you very much and like it or go to bed with nothing
Still can't stand fish though :p
The product, bubbling away.
http://www.ukrm.org/feek/stew.jpg
Awaiting input.
http://www.ukrm.org/feek/dumplings.jpg
They're in, just coming back to the bubble.
http://www.ukrm.org/feek/stewanddumplings.jpg
/Looks in Kitchen69
/Sees identical meal cooking.
/Drools
:D
Less than half an hour away and I'm strangely scared. LMF spoke to Mrs. Feek saying she really doesn't want it and YMF was doing the "I don't know" when I asked him.
Mrs. Feek won't be having any. The only beef she normally touches is minced beef because she doesn't have to chew it, I had persuaded her to have some but she came in while I was chopping up the beef that I'd bought and that was it, there was no chance of her eating it even though it's (hopefully) going to melt in the mouth.
So it's two kids who don't want it and me who does. But even though I've not had anything today apart from the fastest cake in the world, I'm not feeling hungry. I've heard this before from people doing the cooking but never understood it.
We'll see.
That feeling clears pretty soon once it's dinner time. I'm starving!!!
Just minutes to go on mine, thickened it up a bit with a couple of teaspoons of corn flour in a little water. Waiting for the roasties to crisp up a bit more and I'm going to eat myself to beef death :)
Dumplings have grown!
I like big dumplings
http://www.ukrm.org/feek/bigdumplings.jpg
Burp, that was seriously good. Preview for upcoming thread: Beef in beer.
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cooking/beef-in-beer/IMG_2536.JPG
Well the verdict from me that firstly this is a good meal for two people, it stretched to three but would have been nowhere enough for four. I used just over a pound of Scottish Stewing Beef from Tesco and just over the volumes of fluid that Dym suggested.
I varied it slightly in that I cut up a potato and threw it in after about half an hour of original simmering to make up for the lack of veg as suggested later.
I loved it, the meat fell apart in my mouth, the carrots and tatties tasted of the meat and the dumpling was sublime! I used a single large onion and two cloves of garlic and it was perhaps just a bit too much onion but the amount of garlic seemed spot on.
YMF sat down with it, took a piece of meat and said "mmmmm, this is really nice". He ate almost all of it, just a chunk of dumpling and some gravy with a few carrots and potato bits left but he did really well and said how much he liked it. He commented that the carrots and tatties didn't taste like carrots and tatties at all!
LMF cried when she was given it. She's 14 FFS! She was very slow to actually start eating it when she finally sat down with it but did go through a large chunk of what was there. She left more of the veg than YMF did but ate most of the dumpling and left a couple of pieces of the beef. When asked what she thought of it she said that it was OK but a bit too meaty. That's what comes from leaving out most of the veg!
Mrs Feek tucked into the veg/juice that was left and said she liked it a lot. She also tried some of the dumpling and enjoyed that as well.
I asked YMF if he'd like the same again next weekend and he said that perhaps a chicken version would be good. I concur and will be looking to make a chicken casserole on rice next weekend so that Mrs. Feek can partake. I'll need to buy a bigger saucepan though and make more.
All in all, I'm very happy with the result. I'm not overly happy with LMFs reaction as I think it was bloody childish but YMFs commant as he took his first mouthful made me feel all warm and tingly inside :)
Dymetrie
06-01-2008, 20:41
Nice work :)
I'll sort out a chicken casserole recipe for you during the week (which is much the same but calls for white wine and a chicken oxo cube rather than red wine and a beefy oxo cube :p).
:D
I did say use a kilo of beef :D
Damn your excessive food talk, you've made me hungry again. Time for seconds :)
I bought a kilo of beef but it looked too much, and in fairness I think that it would have been.
The rest has gone in the freezer.
Coq au vin for you Mr Feek: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3182
Glad you enjoyed it Feek, and YMF too. I can see why you're disappointed in LMF. At 14, she shouldn't be crying over food. You'd expect it from a grump 5 yr old, but surely not a 14 year old? I think what this calls for is giving her MOOOOOOORE lovely veg and stuff until she's used to it and no longer fussy :D I was a bit of a fussy kid and my parents just said "eat it or go to bed hungry", so I ate it.. and am thankfully no longer fussy. She'll thank you in the long run :)
Coq au vin for you Mr Feek: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3182
Was just about to suggest Coq au vin. It's one of my favourite stews along with Boeuf Bourguignonne. Mmmmm!!
Coq au vin for you Mr Feek: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3182
Looks quite good, not sure I want to use red wine straight away, but that's certainly one worth thinking of.
Looking for one with white wine to be served on rice.
And Kate, that was basically the score today as in "this is what you get, eat it or go hungry".
Wow looks scrumptuous Mr Feek!!!
I purchased a large stew pot from ASDA Living at the weekend for £9 so no excuses now! :D
Hurrah!
BB x
Looks yummy Feek :) Hope I can manage something half as good when I try :)
Looks quite good, not sure I want to use red wine straight away, but that's certainly one worth thinking of.
Looking for one with white wine to be served on rice.
And Kate, that was basically the score today as in "this is what you get, eat it or go hungry".
You can use chicken stock with a splash of white wine instead of the red wine and beef stock. Watch out for chicken stock cubes as they can be quite salty. Don't stew the chicken for too long because it really dries out, stick to thighs and drumsticks and remove the skin.
I made stew for us tonight! :D
I went to the local butchers and popped my butchers cherry... I don't really like butchers because they have trotters and real kidneys and stuff :( and I think thats gross...Lp but I needed stewing meat and the eggs are cheap there and I was in town :D
So I used a bit of Dym's recipe and some of Brad's recipe as he made a yum stew once when I went round... I also used some of my own stock that I had frozen instead of the boiling water :) got some Aunt Bessies dumplings (cba to make em :p) and roasted some potatoes (perfecto now!)
Very yummy :)
There is some sauce still left but we ate all the meat - do you think I can freeze this for future usage? :huh:
BB x
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