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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 had some good sized chicken breasts to use up and it is so hot here at the moment you can’t think of making heavy meals. I decided to do something quick and easy and something that could be done on the BBQ so I did not heat up the house anymore than it already was. It was very tasty and enjoyed by all, from the photo I know the chicken looks burnt but that was just the pesto on the outside and it had a wonderful flavour while still retaining moisture to make it tender.
Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts
3 Tablespoons basil pesto sauce (will need less if breasts are small)
200-250g Romaine lettuce leaves
1/2 Avocado, flesh removed and chopped
4 Bacon rashers, chopped
2 Eggs
4 Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
100g Goats cheese, sliced
1 Small red onion, sliced thinly
6 Slices cucumber, halved
Method
1. Coat breasts in pesto, cook on the BBQ or under grill or pan fry until cooked through.
2. While chicken is cooking cook bacon, until crisp, drain on absorbent paper.
3. Hard boil eggs, peel, chop into pieces.
4. Divide lettuces leaves between 2 plates, arrange, tomato, goats cheese, cucumber, avocado, bacon, eggs and onion on top of lettuce.
5. Slice chicken thickly and lay on top of salad. Serve with either homemade dressing or store bought. I like to make a creamy balsamic dressing to go with this salad.
Serves 2
all photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.
