Just the weather for stew

meritaten

you could try OHs fave - pub style Beef in Beer.
simple recipe
Take your cubed beef and marinate in a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (or supermarket equivalent) for a couple of hours or overnight in fridge.
fry up a large onion (sliced)
strain the beef over a bowl to catch the marinade (you need it so dont pour it down the sink)!
remove the onion and now add the beef to the frying pan, in batches so you dont overcrowd the pan. when the beef is browned add it with the onion to a casserole dish or large saucepan.
Now add the marinade back and also a beef stock cube - make sure the beef is covered by the liquid and either put in a low oven around gas 4 or simmer gently on the top. OOps - cover the casserole with a lid or foil I nearly forgot to say! it takes about two hours but the longer you leave it the better it gets but for more than three hours turn the heat down a little. or you could leave it all day in the slow cooker!
now you can either serve it as stew or you can cut out puff pastry squares and cook them separately then serve on top of the casserole.
OH likes his done with pastry and served with chips and peas - I prefer it uncovered and served with mash peas and some crusty bread!

puddy

meritaten wrote: »

you could try OHs fave - pub style Beef in Beer.
simple recipe
Take your cubed beef and marinate in a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (or supermarket equivalent) for a couple of hours or overnight in fridge.
fry up a large onion (sliced)
strain the beef over a bowl to catch the marinade (you need it so dont pour it down the sink)!
remove the onion and now add the beef to the frying pan, in batches so you dont overcrowd the pan. when the beef is browned add it with the onion to a casserole dish or large saucepan.
Now add the marinade back and also a beef stock cube - make sure the beef is covered by the liquid and either put in a low oven around gas 4 or simmer gently on the top. OOps - cover the casserole with a lid or foil I nearly forgot to say! it takes about two hours but the longer you leave it the better it gets but for more than three hours turn the heat down a little. or you could leave it all day in the slow cooker!
now you can either serve it as stew or you can cut out puff pastry squares and cook them separately then serve on top of the casserole.
OH likes his done with pastry and served with chips and peas - I prefer it uncovered and served with mash peas and some crusty bread!

yes that sounds lovely but i was in the mood for eastern, sort of moroccanish spices, plus i wanted to use up this flaming aubergine that i mixed up.

so, using the recipe above and a few touches of me own, the thing is cooking now, it smells absolutely lovely. ive put some honey in it to try and offset this burntness of the baba ganoush and its worked, its a really thick gravy now, i used cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, all spice, salt and pepper, oregano and chilli powder, bit of tomato puree and im using swede instead of the butternut squash, dont know if i can wait to serve it!

meritaten

That sounds absolutely delish puddy! I might well try that one myself - I could see that being served on bed of cous cous with a sprig of coriander! mouth watering now!!!!

the beef in beer was just a suggestion - my OH absolutely loves it and its no work to do! men seem to love having beef in beer, lol! it is more of a winter dish - not that OH would agree with that statement.
I hope you enjoy your Moroccan beef - I am tempted to ask if you named it 'bazaar beef' or do they have souks?

lillylei

I saw on the good food channel people making bolognaise with beef cubes/steak .

They slow cooked it to a normal bolognaise recipe but it became so tender the meat just fell apart.

puddy

OH would eat stew every day. i am not a stew fan, i dont really like meat cooked for ages and ages, however i do compromise and during the winter we do have stuff like that and recently i discovered beef bouginon, so the beer beef thing will definately go down well

i dont know what to call the moroccan dish, its like most things i cook, i just throw it in as i go!

lovebooks_2

Have you got any beans, such as black eye, or cannelini. If so, leave out the beef, and make a chorizo, and bean stew.

I've made similar before in my slow cooker, with similar ingredients, plus spices, etc.

puddy

we had that last week, im loving chorizo and paprika at the moment. in fact we will probably have it again this week

zippychick

ive merged this with our stew thread so you can read back and see how others do it

Zip

mayfair1985

Long time lurker and first time poster in OS, so first of all i would like to thank everyone that keeps posting for all your helpfulness!

So, last night I decided to do my first beef stew in the slow cooker. Chopped up all the veg and only used half of it because it's a fairly small cooker. Woke up this morning to a beautiful stew, but the meat to veg ratio was pretty high so i've portioned it up and put the rest of the veg back in the slow cooker to 'top up' the portions and bulk it ouit a bit.

First question, the juice that i get from the veg that's cooking now, can i freeze that and use it as a veg stock in the future?

Second, I havent put any dumplings in the stew. Is there any way I can cook these seperatly when i'm re heating the stew? How would I do it, how long would they need etc?

Sorry about this, i have no doubt that the answers i'm looking for will already be around somewhere, i just cant find them And thanks in advance for your help!:j

squeaky

Yes you can use it as veg stock

Yes you can make them separately - just dump them in a pan of gently boiling water for 20 minutes. Alternatively microwave them for two minutes or so. They never seem to come out quite so well as when done in the casserole or stew - but are edible even so. If you ever do them in the slow cooker - they need to go in an hour before the end of cooking time.