Beef Bourguignon

I remember this dish being a regular instalment on the Tower Restaurant menu at South Bank University in the days when I used to type up menus for the day, but it was never anything I had thought of making myself until reading Pille's post at Nami-Nami. Her version looked really tasty, so I decided I just had to have a go myself. The only problem was that I mentioned this to my friends, Natalia and Gosia, making the further mistake of saying I'd cook it for them one day, and now, about a year later, we finally made the date, and I have finally made it.

The biggest obstacle to making this in the past is that most recipes I've seen require preparing the Beef in the marinade the night before, so if there is any chance that diners won't appear the next day, one may be lumbered with a large amount of food which will never be eaten. Most stews I make require a good few hours to cook, but with Bourguignon, I figured the overnight marinating was something which really had to be done.

There seems to be a couple of different camps when it comes to making Beef Bourguignon. Some cook the stew the night before, then store overnight and reheat before serving. Others seem to go for either a cold or cook marinade, leave overnight, then, cook for 3 or 4 hours the next day. Gordon Ramsay even has a same day recipe, but that feels like cheating to me. Personally, I went for the cook marinade method, although I couldn't fit it in the fridge, so I just left it near the window overnight.

Recipe for Beef Bourguignon (serves 6)

• 1kg Braising Steak, cut into nice chunks
• 1 large Onion, roughly chopped
• 2 ribs of Celery, roughly chopped
• 2 large Carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 bottle of Red Wine (preferably Burgundy)
• A few sprigs of Fresh Thyme
• A bunch of Fresh Flat-Leaf Parsley
• 5 Bay Leaves
• A bulb of Garlic, cut in half across the cloves
• 25g Butter
• 250g Smoked Bacon Lardons
• 400g Shallots, peeled
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 400g Chantaney Carrots
• 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• 1 tablespoon Plain Flour
• Half pint of Beef Stock
• Salt and Black Pepper

First fry the Onion, Celery and Carrot together in a little oil for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the Wine, Thyme, Bay Leaves, Parsley and Garlic, remove from the heat, drop in the Beef, cover and keep in a cool place overnight.

The following day, drain the vegetables and Beef, reserving the marinade. Put the vegetables into a large casserole dish, and pat the Beef dry using kitchen roll. In another pan, add butter and fry the Bacon until golden, adding the shallots about halfway through. Remove from the pan and add to the Casserole. Next, add a little oil and brown the pieces of Beef in a couple of batches in the pan. Remove and add to the Casserole. Now add a little of the reserve marinade to the pan to de-glaze it, followed by the Mustard and Flour, stirring continuously to ensure there are no lumps as you add the remaining marinade and beef stock. Pour, this into the casserole, cover, and cook in a preheated 160 degree Celsius oven for about 4 hours.

If you want the gravy a little thicker, you can mix more flour with a little of the existing gravy, then add back into the casserole an hour before the end of the cooking time.

Garnish with Freshly Chopped Flat Parsley and serve with Potatoes, Rice or French Bread. In my case, Mash Potato with Chopped Spring Onions was requested, so that was what I cooked.

Guinness Shepherd's Pie (Guinness Cottage Pie for the Pedants)

I'm not going to be drawn into any arguments of whether something is Shepherd's Pie or Cottage Pie. For me, if it is made from mince from either lamb or beef, with a few vegetables perhaps, and covered with mash potato, it is Shepherd's Pie, and I'm one of the biggest pendants around.

I don't make Shepherd's Pie that often, although it is definitely a favourite of mine. I'm not sure where I learnt how to make it, although it's like that I got it from my mum. However, the other day I saw one of the super-quick Gordon Ramsay recipes on the 'F-Word' compilation they put on over Christmas, and was interested in his alternative methods to the way I make it. Plus, I thought it would definitely make a nice, warming dish with it feeling like snow will fall at any minute.

There are a lot of things I like about Gordon Ramsay, and probably as much that I dislike about him. I haven't had the opportunity to sample his cooking first hand, but he does make a good TV series and provide welcome entertainment along with his annoying quirks. 'Yes?' Still, looking at the results of his Shepherd's Pie, I thought I might try something similar, although where he used Red Wine, I used Guinness. I'm thinking that next time I might try both together as it was such a good combination in the past, but still, I was very satisfied with the result, although I did probably add a few more ingredients than Gordon Ramsay suggested after careful tasting during cooking.

The main differences between his and my version were that with his, the mince was cooked first with the garlic, without the addition of any oil or anything, then, the grated onion and carrot added once it was lightly browned. I quite like little cubes of carrot and peas in my Shepherd's Pie (although Ramsay didn't even bother adding peas, and so he's obviously a bit of a peasant), but this time, I went with grating the carrot along with the onion just to see how the texture of the finished filling differed. I must say, it was nice, but probably immensely improved because of the peas which I added. Ramsay also stuck a couple of egg yolks into his mash, something I've seen other chef's do also, but have no idea why. All the same, I added them myself, just to see if I could work out what the difference was. I'm still not sure, but the mash was good. I pushed the potatoes through my sieve for a change, and the resultant mash was probably the smoothest I've ever made.

Recipe for Guinness Shepherd's Pie (Serves 4)

For the Filling

• 454g Lean Steak Mince
• 2 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
• 2 large Onions, grated
• 3 large Carrots, grated
• 1 tablespoon Concentrated Tomato Purée
• 1 tablespoon Tomato Ketchup
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
• 2 teaspoons Dried Thyme
• 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1 Beef Stock Cube
• 1 bottle of Guinness
• 1 cup Peas
• Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

For the Mash

• 1.5kg Vivaldi Potatoes (or other potatoes suitable for mash)
• 100g Parmesan Cheese
• 25g Butter
• 2 Egg Yolks
• Black Pepper

So, discarding my previous recipes on Shepherd's Pie, take a heavy bottom pan and brown off the Mince at a medium heat. There should be enough fat and liquid still in the mince to let this cook easily without additional oil, etc. Once there is a little liquid in the pan from the Mince, add the Garlic and continue to cook and stir until the mince is lightly browned all over. Then add the Onion and Carrot and continue cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next add the Tomato Purée, Ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, Dijon Mustard, Thyme and Oregano and crumble in the Stock Cube. Stir well and cooking for a further few minutes before adding the Bottle of Guinness. The Guinness should help you de-glaze the pan of any burnt pieces of Mince from the bottom. Stir in the peas, then, cover the pan and leave to simmer until nearly all the liquid has disappeared.

While the filling is simmering, peel, boil and drain the potatoes. Mash the potato with the Butter and most of the Parmesan, reserving some to be sprinkled over the top of the Shepherd's Pie before the final cooking in the oven.

Once the filling is nice and thick, with the Onions and Carrot almost completely disintegrated into the Mince, and nearly all the liquid disappeared, put it into the bottom of roasting dish, then leave to cool for about 20 minutes, so that the filling has solidified slightly. Then cover with the Mash Potato, stripe with a fork and put the final layer of Parmesan and Fresh Ground Black Pepper over the top. Put in a preheated 200 degree Celsius oven for about 25 minutes until the top is golden, then serve.

Beef Kerala, or maybe just Beef Curry Stew

I had various plans for cooking this weekend, but in the end, I decided I wanted something nice and warming, and with a bit of red meat for a change. Laura was going to come for dinner and didn't want to eat Lamb, so Beef it was. I really liked the Chicken Kerala recipe I made a few weeks ago, so decided to hunt the web for some ideas for a Beef equivalent.

I found a number of slightly different recipes, but which tended to follow the same theme, with one of the common differences between the Beef and Chicken variety being the addition of Black Mustard Seeds and Green Cardamom Pods. Also, none of them seemed to have as much in the way of vegetables, so I decided to add a bit of what I had, in this case, some Fresh Peas, a bit of Cauliflower, Carrots and Potatoes. This is where it tended towards a stew I think. This and the fact that after normal cooking time had completed, and after a little taste, I decided that the beef wasn't anything like as tender as I like it, so I decided to keep slow cooking it in the oven for a couple more hours which worked great.

The resulting dish was definitely a cross between a curry and one of my more traditional stews, but with a very different flavour. Still, it was missing something on the flavour front, but I'm just not sure what, so I will have to have a little of the leftovers later to try and figure it out. The taste was fine, but just something missing.

Recipe for Beef Kerala (Serves 6)

• 900g Casserole Steak (cubed)
• 8 cloves of Garlic (minced)
• 2" piece of Fresh Ginger (grated/minced)
• Half teaspoon of Salt
• Half teaspoon of Black Pepper
• 2 tablespoons of Vegetable Oil
• 4 Green Cardamom Pods (crushed)
• 1 teaspoon Black Mustard Seeds
• 5-6 Curry Leaves
• 3 Green Chillies (sliced)
• 3 Red Onions (sliced)
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Coriander
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon of Chilli Powder
• Half teaspoon of Ground Turmeric
• 4 Tomatoes (chopped)
• 4 Potatoes (cubed)
• Half Head of Cauliflower (cut into small florets)
• 3 Carrots (julienned)
• 1 Cup Fresh Peas
• 400g Can of Coconut Milk
• 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala

First marinate the Beef in the Ginger, Garlic, Salt and Pepper for about an hour.

Heat up the oil in a heavy pan and add the Cardamom and Mustard Seeds. When they start popping, add in the Curry Leaves, stir for a minute, then the Chilli, stir for a minute, then the Onion and continue to cook until going golden. Put the Coriander, Cumin, Chilli and Turmeric into a small bowl and mix with some hot water to make a thin paste, then add this to the pan and stir well.

Next, add the Beef and continue to stir for about 10 minutes until the beef is browned all over, then throw in the tomatoes and continue to cook for a few minutes. At this point, I added the rest of the vegetables and a cup of hot water, covered, and allowed to cook for about 40 minutes at a simmer. Next add the Coconut Milk and Garam Masala. Stir in and simmer for a further 5 minutes without letting it boil.

At this point, most of the recipes said to serve it, but after finding a fairly tough piece of beef at the top, I decided to put it into a 150 degree Celsius cover for the next few hours and see how it came out. For me, this worked well, and the resulting curry/stew was definitely one to keep you warm in winter, plus I could imagine up a number of variations. I'm pretty sure none of the other recipes added much in the way of vegetables other than the Onion and Chilli, but the tomatoes I added as the Chicken version I'd made had used them, and as I wasn't doing any other vegetable side dishes to go with it, I felt it necessary to add some other vegetables in there.

Definitely a recipe I'm going to make again in future, even if only to see if I can figure out what the missing flavour was, if indeed there was any. I could just have been my imagination.

Lasagne Bolognese

I made my first ever Lasagne only a few months ago, and it was a great success with those who tasted it, although improvements could be made. For one, I think there was too much pasta in the last one. I had some dried Lasagne in the cupboard this time, so decided to give that a try, even though the Lasagne recipe in The Silver Spoon places it firmly in the Fresh Pasta section. The stuff I had claimed that it did not need any pre-preparation, however, this was not the case, and the top layer which was made with this stuff just didn't work properly at all, which was a shame, because the Bechamel topped with a generous amount of Parmesan on the top tasted great. Just slightly spoilt by the hard pieces of pasta underneath.

When talking with friends about making Lasagne over the last week, it seems that everyone has their way of doing it, but you can divide most of them into two camps: those who pre-cook the pasta, then put a layer on the bottom of the dish, and those who don't pre-cook the pasta, and put a layer of Ragu on the bottom. After the way mine went today, I'm definitely going to stick with using Fresh Pasta, slightly pre-cooked and with a layer at the bottom of the dish.

The Ragu was my pretty much standard recipe, i.e. St Paddy's Bolognese but without the Guinness, although the Silver Spoon suggests uses Passata rather than Chopped Tomatoes. I did this last time, but I forgot to get some in this time, so the Chopped Tomatoes had to do. The length of time I cook the Ragu, I doubt it makes much of a difference.

Recipe for the Ragu Alla Bolognese

• 400g Lean Minced Beef
• 200g Pancetta, cubed (Smoked bacon, normal or streaky, can also be used as long as it's cut into small pieces)
• 1-2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 ½ large onions, chopped
• 3 ribs of celery finely diced
• 3 carrots finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 glass of Red Wine
  
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 x 400g can of Chopped Tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon Concentrated Tomato Puree
• 1 teaspoon Fish Sauce
  
• 1 teaspoon Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• ½ teaspoon Hot Chili Powder
• 2 Bay Leaves
• Freshly ground Black Pepper (to taste)

The directions for cooking this are exactly the same as the St Paddy's Bolognese. Like usual, I gave it a good 2 hours of simmering, only because I had to go and get some Milk for the Bechamel Sauce, I did this in my great new combination oven. I also added a little additional Beef Stock so that it wouldn't dry out too much while I was out.

Recipe for the Bechamel Sauce

• 3 Tablespoons Butter
• 3 Tablespoons Plain Flour
• 1.5 Pints of Milk
• Half an Onion
• 6 Black Peppercorns
• Pinch of Freshly Grated Nutmeg
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

First simmer the milk for about 20 minutes with the Onion, Peppercorns and Nutmeg, then strain it through a sieve to remove the bits. Next melt the butter in a pan, add the floor and cook briefly before gradually adding the milk, stirring all the time. Using a whisk later on helps keep the lumps out, but you shouldn't stop stirring until the floor is properly cooked. Add a little Salt and Pepper to taste.


Now, in a greased roasting dish, arrange a layer of Pasta on the bottom of the dish, then spread over a layer of Ragu, more Pasta, layer of Bechamel Sauce with a little Fresh Mozzarella if you wish, then Pasta, Ragu, etc. Keep layering until all the ingredients are used, finishing with a layer of Bechamel Sauce on the top. Next add a good covering of Parmesan Cheese and a little Freshly Ground Black Pepper.

The Lasagne should then be cooked in a pre-heated oven at about 200 degree Celsius for about 30-40 minutes. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

St. Paddy's Bolognese

I really don't go in for St. Patrick's Day (or St. Guinness' Day as far as most of the World outside Ireland are concerned), even though I do like Guinness. Let's face it, the whole thing has been completely taken over by Irish alcoholic drinks manufacturers, and not being Irish, I think you'd have to drink quite a lot to give the time of day to stories of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. At least the stories about St. David are slightly more believable and less mythical sounding, and yet you don't see half the world spending the day eating Leek based dishes or drinking Brains Bitter until they can't stand anymore. Still, I'm not going to stop anyone having a good time and the only people I'm hoping do stop anyone having a good time are the Welsh Rugby team by living up to the expression "you can lose to anyone you want except the English".

It being a long day of Six Nations Rugby ahead, I definitely needed to ensure that I had a good meal before heading to the local to watch the 3 matches, and this blog event definitely caught my attention. But deciding what to cook which both satisfied the requirements of this event, as well as getting me ready for a day in the pub was a little difficult.

So I decided to go for a bit of a combination. St. Paddy's Bolognese is pretty much the Tag Bog (Spag Bog, Spag Bol, Tag Bol) recipe I made before, only using Guinness as well. I did think of adding potatoes, but that's just going too far. However, it still didn't sound particularly Irish, and so to inject some 'green' into it, I decided to serve it with Tagliatelle Verde.

The problem was that it was going to be a fairly early start with the first game kicking off at 1:30pm, and with staying up late to watch the F1 qualifying the night before, I decided to prepare the Ragu while waiting for the qualifying to start. The main difficulty was not eating it before the morning, especially with the gorgeous smell wafting through my flat once all the ingredients were together.

I must say, this post makes me sound like a bit of a sports nut, but I don't think I'm that bad. I do enjoy some motor sport and, being Welsh, I have to watch Rugby (especially when Wales and England are playing each other). But the fact that the first F1 race of the new season and the last matches of the Six Nations are on the same weekend, means that it is probably the most sport I will watch over a weekend until the Rugby World Cup starts in September.

Recipe for St. Paddy's Bolognese

• 400g Lean Minced Beef
• 200g Pancetta, cubed (Smoked bacon, normal or streaky, can also be used as long as it's cut into small pieces)
• 1-2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 ½ large onions, chopped
• 3 ribs of celery finely diced
• 3 carrots finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 bottle of Guinness
  
• 1 glass of Red Wine
  
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 can of Chopped Tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon Concentrated Tomato Puree
• 1 teaspoon Fish Sauce
  
• 1 teaspoon Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• ½ teaspoon Hot Chili Powder
• 2 Bay Leaves
• Freshly ground Black Pepper (to taste)
  

The cooking method was pretty much as before. First frying the Pancetta, then adding the onion, celery and carrot until the onion becomes transparent. Next, the minced beef was added until lightly browned, and then the booze was put in and cooked until reduced by about half (well, there was quite a bit more than last time). Then the rest of the ingredients were added, brought to the boil, then simmered for the next 3 hours.

Pretty much like the last sauce I made except with the addition of Guinness and Fish Sauce instead of Salt. If it's good enough for Heston Blumenthal, it's good enough for me. I was thinking about adding some Star Anise too, but none of my local shops had any, and my local Sainsbury's is truly terrible for buying anything except a few ingredients. They didn't even sell Tagliatelle Verde, so I bought the mixed bag and just pulled out the green stuff for serving (I'll have the normal tagliatelle with the leftovers).

Starting cooking a meal at midnight is definitely a bad move, even if you have a good reason like I did. But the resultant ragu was very good, even though I do say myself. The addition of Guinness, although even less Italian than my last sauce, was definitely a good idea, so it might end up being a permanent fixture in future.

Steamed Dumplings

The photos of the dumplings the other night was so awful, I decided to make some more dough and use up the remaining Chinese dumpling filling from the other night. I'd only made about 40 or so the first time, so had lots of filling leftover and needed to use it. Joel mentioned that a different design was necessary if you were steaming them, so I searched about a bit I found that a lot were something close the above. Anyway, they still tasted great and in daylight I had a much better chance of getting a better shot. All I needed was some kind of little bowl for the dipping sauce. I'm wondering if I should try making them with self-raising flour and see if I get them more like buns.

Chinese Dumplings

A few years ago, I was hired to do some 4D localisation work in Beijing, and over the few trips I had there, some of the best memories are of the food. I never got a chance to do much sightseeing, but I did have to eat, and made sure I ate well. On the last two trips, I was working with Imre, who complained that each time he spent any time in China with me, he put on weight. I know I must have too as we always seemed to eat very well, and with the food so good most of the time, it was necessary to make the most of it as I didn't know when next I'd have food as good.

One of the things which Imre introduced me to was dumplings. We often went to one particular dumpling restaurant for lunch, as it was on the same road as the National Library of China, where we were working, and their dumplings were great, except one batch when Imre forgot that I couldn't eat mushrooms. Yeah, right, I'm sure he was seeing if I'd eat them if I didn't know they were in there.

Since then, the only time I've eaten similar Dumplings was when my Mongolian friend, Bata and his wife cooked them for me. Although, Mongolian dumplings tend to be a bit scarce on the vegetables, although still very tasty and very filling. Although I observed some of the cooking process for Bata's dumplings, I never got the recipe from him before he left to go back to Mongolia.

So, when Joel emailed me with a link to a recent video he made of him Making Dumplings, I sat through a lot of the 25 minutes (flicking forward a bit every now and then) to figure out the technique, and this weekend, I finally took the plunge and tried out his recipe. The only thing I haven't tried yet is frying them after boiling them, but I wanted to remember what they were like in Beijing, and according to Joel, frying them after boiling is a Shanghai thing, so I stuck to how I remembered them and just boiled them

Recipe for the Dumpling Dough (makes 80-90 dumplings)

• 6 cups of Plain Flour
• 2 cups of Water

Mix the flour and water together and knead to make a smooth dough. Then cover and leave for about an hour (i.e. the time it takes to get the filling ready if you're me).

Recipe for the Dumpling Filling (makes 80-90 dumplings)

• 400g Lean Minced Beef
• 400g Lean Minced Pork
• 4 Large Carrots, finely chopped
• 8-10 Spring Onions, finely chopped
• 1.5 bulbs of Garlic, finely chopped
• 1 bunch of Fresh Coriander, finely chopped

Mix the ingredients for the filling together so that they're completely mixed together. The vegetables should be finely chopped, but not done in a food processor. And if you're like Joel, you might mix them together using chopsticks, but in my case, I just used a fork to mix everything together (saving the chopsticks for the eating).

Now that the filling has been prepared, and the dough has been sitting, covered, for an hour at least, you can take it back out again and knead it a little more to knock it back and make it a smooth dough again. Then start trying to turn it into a cylinder of dough about an inch across. This will make a very long piece of dough, so, make one piece about 30cm x 2.5cm and cover the rest so that it doesn't dry out while you're preparing the first batch.

You then want to cut off a piece to give you a sphere of dough which is about 2.5cm diameter, then using the handle of a wooden spoon, roll this out on a well floured board to make it about 10cm in diameter, leaving the middle of the piece slightly thicker. See the video to see how Joel does it. Then, once the correct size, add a teaspoon of the filling onto the piece of dough, then fold in half and seal by folding over the edges to make a typical looking Chinese Dumpling. The store these dumplings on a well-floured board, plate or tray.

Once you have 20-30 dumplings made, bring a large sauce pan of water to the boil, allowing enough space to add another few cups of water to it. When the water is fully bubbling, add 20 or so dumplings to the water, stirring very gently to ensure non stick to the bottom. Just let them move about, rather than actually stirring them.

When the water comes to a proper boil again, add a cut of water to cool it down. By not letting it boil aggressively throughout the cooking, it helps stop the dumplings from breaking up. You need to repeat this process another 2 times (3 cups of cold water in total) during cooking, then the dumplings should be ready. They should all be floating also, but taste one just to make sure.

Recipe for the Dipping Sauce

• 0.5 cup Malt Vinegar
• 0.5 cup Soy Sauce
• 0.5 cup Sweet Chilli Sauce
• 8-10 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
• 10 dried Red Chillies, finely chopped

Actually, this probably wasn't as authentic as it should be. Really, I should have got some proper dumpling dipping vinegar and Chinese hot sauce, but I didn't have these, and so I improvised. The amounts here are definitely not accurate to the sauce I made as the chilli sauce went in a little quicker than I'd expected, so ended up watering it down with some balsamic vinegar when I had them for the lunch the next day. But when Ejaz had them the following evening, he had it non-watered down as he had man-flu, and needed the additional spice.

Ejaz gave the dumplings and dipping sauce 8 out of 10. He'd never had anything like them before, so didn't have anything to score them against, but still really enjoyed them, and it's the higest mark he's ever given any of my food. Previous scores haven't been higher than a seven. I haven't tried any fried yet, but steamed they're pretty good too, but Joel said that steaming them was southern thing, and really required a slightly different design of dumpling. The thing is, the night I made them, I was starving by the time I'd made a few, so I put on milk pan with some water, stuck on a small bamboo steamer I had, and put them in so that I could taste a couple before preparing the rest.

Joel says that you can freeze them before boiling them so that you can finish them at a later stage. But they also seem to keep in the fridge overnight, covered, and preferably separated so that they don't stick together.

The photography is awful, I know. With a better camera at my disposal, I might have got a better shot. I think it might be replacing this photo with a daytime one off the next batch of dumplings, taken during daylight.

Chilli Con Carne (Cure for Cold Symptoms)

It's been really cold this week, even a little snow yesterday (no way was it the worst in 10 years, at least, not in London), and I've developed a nasty cold. So as a result, something nice and spicy to clear up the sinuses was required. Chili was one of the first things I learnt to cook on an Aga, at the time, utilising a recipe from the "Good Housekeeping" Aga Cookbook (well, the previous edition, anyway). Back then, I didn't tend to mess around much with recipes as I didn't really have the confidence to experiment with slight variations. But, since then, having to cook it in various people's houses with different cooking resources and ingredients available, I have developed my recipe a little more. The most important thing for this one was that it was hot, but not so that it was inedible, but also to include an idea or two from my good friend, Brett's, recipe. I lived with Brett for a few years, and his cooking was always great, so well worth stealing ideas from.

Recipe for Chilli Con Carne (serves 4)

• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 454g/1lb Lean Minced Beef
• 1 Large Onion, chopped
• 1 Small Red Onion, chopped
• 2 Ribs of Celery
• 4 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
• 3 Hot Chillies (Red, Green or both)
• 1 Green Pepper, chopped
• 1 Yellow Pepper, chopped (optional, but added for a little more colour)
• 2 tablespoons Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 2 Beef Stock Cubes
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 2-3 tablespoons Concentrated Tomato Puree
• 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes
• 1 cup of Water
• 2 Bay Leaves
• A piece or two of Cassia Bark
• 1-2 tins Kidney Beans (depending on how many beans you like in it)
• 2 chunks of Lindt 70% Cocoa (or higher) Chocolate

Heat the oil in a heavy pan and saute the Onion, Chilli, Celery, Garlic and Pepper until they are nicely softened (10 minutes or so), then add the Beef, and cook until browned all over. Next, add the dried spices, although maybe leave out the Cayenne Pepper so that you can add to taste slightly later on in the cooking process. Mix well, then add the Tomato Puree, Chopped Tomatoes and Worcestershire Sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the Cassia Bark and Bay Leaves, then cover and simmer for another 20-30 minutes.

At this point, you should taste it and decide whether you want to add more Cayenne Pepper, Hot Chilli Powder or Cumin. Personally, I find the stock cubes can add enough salt, but add more at this point if there is not enough for you.

Simmer for a further 30 minutes, then remove the Cassia Bark and Bay Leaves and add the kidney beans. These days, I try and have 2 tins of Kidney Beans to hand when cooking Chilli, although not everyone likes to have lots of them, but I tend to judge whether the second tin is needed based on what it looks like once I've added the first. At this point, you should stir in the Chocolate until it is melted and mixed in, and then simmer for a further 30 minutes.

During cooking, add some of the water if it is drying out too much or if it begins to stick to the bottom on the pan.

I always tend to serve the Chilli with Basmati Rice on the day I make it, but I'm usually hoping that there is enough leftovers to have on a Jacket Potato the following day.

Beef and Guinness Stew

Another poker night, and I'm preparing the food for the occasion. Once again, I'm cooking Beef and Guinness Stew, partly because I want to perfect my recipe, plus the fact that I haven't eaten it since the last poker night, and it always goes down well. Only this time, instead of Garlic Bread (there wasn't any good bread when I was at the supermarket or at the mini-market I went to), I'm doing some hummus and guacamole with bread sticks, celery and carrot.

I realised that I hadn't made any notes about my last stew, so the recipe I was improving on I had to try and remember. The main difference was that I use braising steak instead of the casserole steak which I used last time as the pieces in the various packets didn't look very appetising, so I decided to cut the cubes out myself.

Recipe (serves 4-6)

• 900g (2 lbs) Braising Steak (cut into 2-4cm cubes)
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
  
• 2 tablespoons flour
• Salt and Pepper
• Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• 1 large Onion (roughly chopped)
• 1 clove of Garlic (finely sliced)
• 2 ribs of Celery (chopped)
• 12-15 Shallots (cut in half)
• 600-700g (1.5 lbs) Baby Chantenay Carrots (just with the heads removed)
• 600-700g (1.5 lbs) Charlotte Potatoes (cut in pieces about the size of the carrots)
• 1 pint Beef Stock
• 1 pint Guinness (or similar Stout)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Concentrated Tomato Puree
  
• 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
  
• 2 teaspoons Dried Thyme
• 2 tablespoons Fresh Parsley (chopped fine)

Mix the flour, salt, pepper and cayenne in a bowl, then coat the beef cubes in about a tablespoon of Olive Oil and toss all the pieces in the seasoned flour.

Heat up the rest of the olive oil and then seal the seasoned beef in a heavy pan, cooking until lightly browned (about 4-5 minutes) and transfer the beef to a decent sized, heavy cooking pot. The in the same pan the beef was cooked in, add the onion, celery and garlic and cook until the onion is beginning to brown, then transfer this into the same large pot with the beef. Add the carrots, potato and shallots to the beef and mix around.

In the pan everything has been cooked in so far, add the Dijon Mustard and gradually pour in the Guinness, stirring continuously to de-glaze the pan and blend in the mustard. Then add the stock and pour over the beef and vegetables in the big pot. Mix in the Tomato Puree, Thyme, Parsley and some more Black Pepper and add the bay leaves. Cover and cook in a 170 degree celsius oven for at least 2.5 hours, however, you should check the seasoning half way through so that you can add a little more if necessary. Also, if the gravy isn't thick enough for your liking, mix some flour with water and add to the mixture during cooking.

Due to the usual lateness of some of the attendees, this stew was left in the oven for a good 4 hours, and all the better for it I reckon. The beef was extremely tender, with much nicer pieces than the pre-cut stuff. Preparing it yourself means you can ensure that all the pieces are nice.

Although I was expecting it to fill 5 people, 6 people turned up, a few people were still hungry (even after seconds) afterwards and more hummus was prepared. Maybe if you're cooking it for 6 hungry people, you should consider adding more beef and carrots, leaving out the potatoes, and cooking some separately, although I like having the potatoes in there. Thing is, would need a big pan to do that, and I'm not sure it would fit in my current combination oven.

Shepherd's Pie with Beer

I've made Shepherd's Pie a few times before, and I couldn't help noticing that my recipe was slightly similar to the Spag Bol recipe, except for the lack of Pancetta and Red Wine. So as an experiment, I decided to start this recipe using a similar Soffritto to the Spag Bog, add the minced beef, then instead of wine, two thirds of a can of beer (Kronenbourg 1664 in this case). A nice darker beer might have worked a bit better, although the beer definitely improved the flavour. Also, I cooked the meat portion much longer than I have in the past, about 1.5 - 2 hours.

OK, perhaps this should be called a Cottage Pie as it is made with Beef rather than Lamb, but as far as I'm concerned, they're such similar recipes that I think it really doesn't matter than much.

Recipe (serves 4-5)

• 500g Minced Beef
• 2 medium Onions, chopped
• 2 ribs of Celery, chopped
• 4 carrots, cubed
• 1 cup Fresh Peas
  
• 1 clove Garlic
• 300-400ml Beef or Lager
• 1 can Chopped Tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons Tomato Puree
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 2 teaspoons Thyme
• 2 Beef Stock Cubes
• Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

For the Mash

• 1.5 kilo Vivaldi Potatoes
• Splash of Milk
• Knob of Butter
• Small handful grated Cheddar Cheese
• Grated Italian Hard Cheese
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
  

Like the Spag Bog, saute the onion, celery and carrot in a heavy pan until the onion becomes transparent, then add the mince, cooking until lightly browned. Then add the beer and cook until the liquid has reduced by half before adding the tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. Leave this simmering for about 1.5 - 2 hours so that a lot of the liquid has evaporated (although not all), then add the peas and start to boil the potatoes to make the mash.

Transfer the meat to a casserole dish large enough to fit the meat leaving about an inch or so on top for the mash potato.

I put some of the cheddar in with the mash while mixing it up, then a little more on top with the black pepper and grated hard cheese. The whole lot then goes into a preheated 180 degree Celsius oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until the top has turned golden and slightly crispy.

Update: I have to say, my more recent Guinness Shepherd's Pie recipe is definitely more superior to this one, but this is still not a bad variation.

Tagliatelle alla Bolognese (Spag Bog)

This recipe seems to be working well for me, although, one day, I'm going to try the Heston Blumenthal version as that sounds good too. One day, I might try and do it without tomatoes too, as they don't use them in Bologna, but I'd want to use a decent beef stock, rather than stock cubes.

Recipe for the Sauce (serves 4)

• 500g lean mince beef
• 300g Pancetta, cubed (Smoked bacon, normal or streaky, can also be used as long as it's cut into small pieces)
• 1-2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 ½ large onions, chopped
• 3 ribs of celery finely diced
• 3 carrots finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 large glass of Red Wine (White Wine can also be used apparently, but I've never tried myself)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 can of Chopped Tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons Concentrated Tomato Puree
• 1 teaspoon Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• ½ teaspoon Hot Chili Powder
• 2 Bay Leaves
• Salt and Pepper (freshly ground in both cases)
  

When making this, I first chop up the Onion, Carrot and Celery for the Soffritto. Personally, I like this to be equal portions of the ingredients once chopped up, so the quantities above may vary depending on the size of the vegetables.

Using a heavy pan, heat up the olive oil and when hot, but not smoking, add in the pancetta and cook for a few minutes. Then add the soffritto and cook, stirring regularly, until the onion becomes slightly transparent.
Next the mince beef goes in and is cooked until slightly brown. Then in goes a large glass of wine which should reduce by a third until the rest of the ingredients are added.

The sauce should then be left to simmer for at least 2 hours. You can get away with less time, but it is very much better the longer it is left.

You can serve it with almost any type of pasta, but tagliatelle is the more traditional one to serve, even though in the UK we tend to use spaghetti, hence the Spag Bog nickname. My friend Brett would also add some fresh coriander, and if I'd have had some, I may well have tried that myself as his sauce was always good.

This sauce definitely scored pretty high with my friends who tried it, even though Ejaz's scores always tend to be one point lower than anyone else's. Maybe he's just trying to encourage me to improve more, or otherwise he's been spoilt by his Mum's cooking. Still... scores between 7 and 9 out of 10 will do me. Not sure what, if anything I will do next time I make it. I liked it, and with clean plates and no leftovers, it couldn't have been bad.

Beef Meatball Curry

Reading this blog, you would be forgiven to think that I only make things like stew and curry. OK, in the last month or so, I have made these two recipes twice, but they're popular with guests as well as with myself. Besides, this time, I used beef mince instead of lamb. Actually, I think I prefer it with lamb mince, although I did cook it for an hour or so longer this time to get the gravy to a thicker consistency (and also to allow me to go get the wine which I knew Marisha wouldn't bring).

No photos unfortunately, as I can't find the charger for my camera battery. Also, with the awful tripod-less efforts I've made in these bad lighting conditions recently, I'm not sure any photo I would have taken would have done the finished product justice.

Specifications for the new site still continue. I think I'm going to have to at least get a personal version of the site going as I've had a few requests to see the recipes I'm using on-line.

Tagliatelle alla Bolognese

Yeah, well, maybe it wasn't a totally authentic ragù, but it was closer than the last one I made. With more time, and one or two different ingredients, I think I could get it closer. I watched Heston Blumenthal searching for perfection with Spaghetti Bolognese the other day, and decided to try and improve on the recipe which I'd previously come up with, and serve with the more authentic tagliatelle instead of spaghetti.

The main difference was that I tried to do better with the Soffritto, so that it was a more proportional mix of onion, celery and carrot, and properly chopped. While I was cooking it, it even looked better. Although I still use a tin of chopped tomatoes instead of a stock before leaving it simmering for a couple of hours. I might try with just some puree and stock next time, although it wont be home-made stock, so I'm not sure it's worth it.

For only the second attempt at making this meal, I was really pleased. Really no need to buy a jar of sauce and cheat. Dave came around the next day and ate the last of it cold without any pasta and it still tasted good.

Poker Night with Stew and Garlic Bread

I was hosting our infrequent poker night this evening, and rather than get pizza delivered like last time, we thought that we'd get a larger overall winners pot if I cooked and we got a load of beers from the supermarket. As one of the guys didn't turn up, this was actually not a bad idea as the pot was still a nice one to win, plus there was no shortage of food, beer and wine.

Ejaz requested that I do the Beef and Guinness Stew again, so I cooked that, plus got a couple of baguettes so that I could make some garlic bread.

The stew was very successful, although I think I might have put more cayenne pepper in the meat seasoning this time, as it was a quite a bit more spicy. Maybe too much. The garlic bread was also good, although the fact that Ejaz donated a couple of new knives (including a much needed bread knife) to my kitchen equipment cause, was a deciding factor as it meant I could actually cut the bread myself, rather than buying the pre-done stuff.

Beef and Guinness Stew

It's been cold recently, so more comfort food required, plus the fact that I hadn't made stew in years. Used 900g of lean casserole beef (seasoned in flour, black pepper, salt and cayenne pepper), lots of baby chantenay carrots, a couple onions, a load of shallots, a few ribs of celery, and pint or so of stock and a bottle of Guinness. Left to cook for 3 hours with some thyme and bay leaves, then just served as it was, but with a little bread to wipe up the gravy.

The amount I cooked would probably suite about 5 or 6 people (depending on the people). Might have been nice to have some dumplings too, but not really necessary with all the potato and carrot.

Thing is, there were only 2 of us, but I'm sure it will taste even better the next day, although I've already got a trade arranged for some lasagne which was made elsewhere tonight (although by the sounds of it, I'll be fishing the mushrooms out, so not the best trade I've done).

If I were making it again, I doubt there is much I would do differently. Except perhaps use a bit of bacon as well, as one recipe suggested. I would probably take the photo with the stew in a nicer plate or bowl, and slightly better presented. But other than that, it was pretty good as it was. It's what it tastes like that really matters, not whether someone has sloshed the gravy around on the way from serving to table.

Still working on the requirements of the site, and investigating various 3rd party APIs which may also be needed.