The summer crops are winding down and the new season's produce is filling the market stalls. All the brassicas looked irresistible but I settled for broccoli which we just steamed and served with an old favourite beef stew. It's a good idea to make lots and freeze as it is little effort and you'll have a 2nd hearty meal to produce on one of those nights when you don't have time to cook but want something substantial when you finally get in.
Cut 2kg of stewing steak (blade, chuck, skirt) into thick chunks. Finely chop together 4 rashers of bacon, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 sticks celery, 4 cloves garlic with a handful of parsley & thyme. Gently cook in a tbsp lard in a heavy casserole (if you don't want to use lard try olive oil instead but lard gives good flavour here) and set aside. Heat a 2nd tbsp lard in a second pan and brown the meat in batches. When it is done sprinkle a handful of flour over the last batch and cook until the flour has browned. Add the meat to the casserole and to the meat pan add 1 cup red wine, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 cups water and salt & pepper. Scrape up the meat residue and add to the meat and vegetables. Cover & cook in a low oven about an hour. Take it out and add some vegetables selecting from mushrooms, pickling onions, carrots, potatoes, baby turnips. Just prepare them and chop them into a size you like. Return to the oven and cook for another hour. If you have 2 casseroles you could split them at this stage & put a different set of vegetables in each one.
Now that daylight saving has ended we are back on soup Mondays. We started the season with Egyptian lentil, served with some pita that was in the fridge and had seen better days. For 2 people, heat a small quantity of oil in a pan and soften a finely diced onion, a sliced garlic clove, a small piece of ginger grated and 1/2 a carrot, grated. Stir in a tsp each of cumin, turmeric and paprika and cook for a minute or two. Add a couple of handfuls of red lentils and stir through the spices then add 500ml chicken stock. Simmer until the lentils are cooked. Meanwhile brush a couple of pita breads with oil on both sides then cut into triangles and gently toast in a medium oven for about 8 minutes. You want them crisp but not so crisp that they shatter when you bite them.
On Tuesday I did something I've been thinking about for ages. I love mattar paneer and Zany Zeus have brought out a paneer so I thought I'd have a go. I delved into my trusty Indian Vegetarian Cookery bought in London 30 years ago and it did not disappoint. Cube the paneer (I just bought a pack of paneer that seemed the right amount for 2 people) and fry in ghee until golden. Set aside. In a mortar & pestle grind a small piece of grated ginger, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chilli, 1 tsp cumin seeds, seeds from 2 cardamom pods, a small piece of cinnamon and mix with a little water to form a paste. In a pan fry a finely chopped onion with 1 tsp each mustard seeds & poppy seeds. Add the paste & fry a couple of minutes. Add 2-3 chopped tomatoes and a cup of peas. Gently fry a couple of minutes, add a cup of water & cook until peas are done. Add the paneer and sprinkle with lemon juice. Serve with rice, home made tamarillo chutney and Indian bread.
If it is a cold night, try sausages in a mustardy sauce. I like to keep a pack of the Island Bay Butcher's pork & fennel sausages in the freezer for a rainy day & Wednesday turned out to be that day. Soften (almost caramelise) 1-2 onions in olive oil. Be patient, you want them to cook right down. While the onions are doing, cook some pasta such as penne or giant conchiglie and set aside. Skin the sausages and break into chunks - you can use any sausages you like. Add to the onion and cook through. Stir through a good dollop each of creamy Dijon and grainy mustard and a handful of chopped Italian parsley. Stir in about 1/2 cup cream and the cooked pasta.
We did a delicious creamy risotto topped with lemony chicken. In a baking dish, combine chopped rosemary and parsley with 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil and juice of a lemon. Add a couple of chicken thighs - skin on (and skin side up) if you can get them. Put in the oven at 180 and roast 30-40 minutes, basting once. Cover & set aside to rest.
While the chicken is cooking make a basic risotto adding lemon zest and 2 tbsp chopped sage with the rice. Serve with the chicken sliced on top andif you want to be fancy cook a few sage leaves in hot olive oil until crisp. I did the sage leaves in the leftover oil and fat the chicken cooked in - okay if you used a pan that can be used on the stove top.
In the weekend I made a batch of quince jelly. Yell out if you would like a jar. I used to be scared of jelly because people suggest it is complicated but it really is not. Wash & quarter 5-6 quinces. Put them in a large pan (skin, cores and all) covered with water and simmer covered until quinces are soft. Mash the quinces & water until you have a liquidy mush. Spoon the mush into a jelly bag suspended over a large bowl. You have a lot of liquid so I spooned in the solids using a slotted spoon & then poured the liquid over in batches, transferring the resulting pink liquid to the preserving pan so the bowl didn't overflow. Leave the last batch to drip for hours making sure you have eked out every last drop of liquid from the quinces. Measure the liquid as you go because you want to add 7 cups of sugar to 8 cups of juice. That's 7/8 cup of sugar per cup of juice. Don't be precise but you don't want as much as a whole cup. Bring the juice to the boil then add the sugar. Boil until it is ready, skimming off any foam that appears. You want the liquid to reach about 220F and you can use a cooking thermometer to measure this. Don't rely on it though. When your jelly has been at a rolling boil for 10 minutes or so test it by putting about 1/2 tsp on a dish you have had in the freezer. If after a few seconds, when you push it with your finger it wrinkles a little it is done. Don't worry if it isn't perfect. You'll just have jars of delicious quince sauce to pour over ice cream.made a batch of pesto. The plan for this weekend is to get all those tomatoes that didn't ripen into a batch of green tomato chutney.
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