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This is a great hearty, warming stew ideal for the coming winter months. When the weather starts to get cold I love nothing more than stews and casseroles whether beef, chicken or fish they make great comfort food. I came up with this recipe a few weeks ago and have just got round to posting. The meat was tender it just dissolved in your mouth. I served mine with broccoli florets as we are trying to eat lower carb in the evening but this would pair well with creamy polenta or mash potato if you wanted to add some more carbs to it. This recipe works out at about approx 9g carb per serving 68g protein, 31g total fat of which 11g is saturated.
Ingredients
10 Bacon rashers, chopped finely
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1kg Gravy beef, diced into 2cm pieces
1 Cup red wine
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 Cups water
2 Teaspoons beef stock granules
3 Cloves garlic, crushed
6 Sprigs fresh thyme
1 Tablespoon butter
250g Shallots, peeled
400g Mushrooms, chopped
4 Tablespoons bisto gravy granules
20g Parsley, finely chopped
600g Broccoli, cut into florets
Method
1. Cook bacon in a large heavy based saucepan, stirring, until browned, drain on absorbent paper.
2. Add oil to a large fry pan, add beef in batches, cooking until browned all over, add beef to saucepan, wipe fry pan clean for later use.
3. Add wine, paste, water, stock, garlic and thyme sprigs to saucepan, bring to the boil, reduce heat, simmer covered for about 21/2-3 hours or until beef is tender.
4. Meanwhile, melt butter in the fry pan add shallots, cook until browned and starting to soften, add mushrooms, cook, stirring about 7-8 minutes until mushrooms are soft, remove from heat.
5. Add gravy granules to beef mixture stir until sauce thickens slightly (I use the gravy granules to thicken and to add extra beefy flavour, can thicken with cornflour, but may want to adjust stock amount.)
6. Stir in parsley and add shallot mushroom mix to the stew, leave on a low heat.
7. Meanwhile boil, steam or microwave broccoli until just tender.
Serve stew accompanied with broccoli.
I have really been enjoying stir fry’s lately, they really are great and are so easy to do without a lot of fuss. You can have a fantastic tasting meal on the table in about 30 Min’s that is not only healthy but tastes wonderful and because your not slaving over the stove for hours, you get to sit down and enjoy your meal. This is one I made the other night as I fancied some fish. I have been cooking a lot of chicken lately, as with all the food price hikes, it is just too expensive to eat all the variety I used to cook and I fancied a change. It was definitely worth it I really enjoyed this one as did my hubby.
Ingredients
700g Salmon fillets, skinned and cut into cubes
400g Green prawns (I buy them already shelled you may want to up the weight if you are buying them with shell on.)
21/2 Tablespoons fresh mint
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon grass, finely chopped (2 Teaspoons if you use a paste)
3-4 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 Lemon, juice of
2 Teaspoons sambal oelek
3 Tablespoons peanut oil, divided use
1 Medium carrot, slice carrot into ribbons using a vegetable peeler (about 150g)
100g Snow peas, sliced into thin strips
200g Bean sprouts
1 Tablespoon fresh coriander, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
2 Teaspoon brown sugar
1 Teaspoon soy sauce
Method
1. Combine Prawns and salmon in a large bowl with mint, lemon grass, garlic, rind, juice and sambal, cover, refrigerate 10 Min’s.
2. In a screw top jar add vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and 2 tablespoons peanut oil, shake well.
3. Heat 1 Tablespoon peanut oil in a wok add prawns and cook for a couple Min’s, stirring, add Salmon and stir fry 3 Min’s more. Remove from pan.
4. Add a touch more oil and add carrot and snow peas stir-fry 1 Minute, stirring continuously, Return prawn mixture along with bean sprouts, coriander and combine oil, vinegar, sugar and soy, stir, cover a couple of minutes until vegetables are just tender and fish is cooked through.
To Serve: Serve on individual serving plates. Serves 4
I served as is, if you serve this with rice or noodles I would probably lower weight amounts of fish and slightly adjust on veg.
All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.
