Pastitsio, Greek Pasta Bake

After 14 years of driving to the South of France every summer, due to my eldest daughter's access and equipment needs, last week we treated our younger two now adult children to a last minute package holiday.  My son likes history and Greek mythology, my middle daughter likes sun and sea, and we all like food, so we settled on Rhodes.  They tried their best to eat most of the popular Greek dishes, but the one of the dishes they didn't try was Pastitsio, a layered lasagne like pasta bake, so I introduced them to it.

Serves 4-6

500g long pasta tubes, pastitsio no.2 aka bucatini, or penne
2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 courgette grated, or a bag of baby spinach leaves (optional)
500g beef or pork mince, or a mixture of both
150ml red wine
500g passata
1 tsp dried mint

1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cinnamon

1 bay leaf
2 eggs

500g greek style yoghurt

1/4 tsp nutmeg
100g grated halloumi, cheddar, or parmesan

Gently fry the onion in 1 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan. 

When the onion starts to look translucent add the courgette if using.  Fry for 5-10 minutes until soft.  Add the garlic and mince, breaking the mince up as you cook it.  When broken up and with very few raw pink bits, add the passata, rinse the carton out with the wine and add this, and the herbs & spices, apart from the nutmeg.  Cover and bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer, stirring from time to time, whilst you cook the pasta.

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.  

Just before the pasta cooking time is up, check the pasta sauce. It should be slightly thick, like single cream. If still too watery, take the lid off and continue to simmer whilst you drain the pasta.

Drain the pasta, tip into a large high sided baking dish, and stir through 1 tbsp olive oil. 

Turn the oven on to 180C.  

Beat the eggs into the yoghurt together with a pinch of salt and nutmeg.

Pour the meat sauce evenly over the pasta (if being traditional the pasta should be lined up all the same direction in the baking dish, but I have yet to bother to do this), then evenly cover this with the yoghurt and egg mixture.  Top with the grated cheese.

Bake for 45-60 minutes at 180C in the middle of the oven or until golden brown and bubbling. You may wish to turn the grill of for a couple of minutes to brown the top, but keep a close eye on it - the cheese burns quickly! 

Serve with a big green salad.

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Birria Beef Tacos

My son came back from a meal with friends at a taco restaurant, raving about the Birria Tacos he had.  So I had to try to re-create it at home.  I based my recipe on BBC Good Food's Birria Tacos, without the range of chillies in their ingredients list, added pinto beans to stretch the meat a little further, and cooked in a slow cooker rather than the oven.

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 kg braising steak cut into large bite sized pieces

400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp chipotle hot sauce

1 tsp white wine vinegar

2 cloves

3 black peppercorns

A large pinch of salt

2 bay leaves

16 soft mini tortilla wraps

Topping ideas

Lettuce

Pickled red cabbage

Chopped coriander

Finely sliced onion

Grated mozzarella

Guacamole or avocado

Jalapeños 

Refried beans or drained pinto beans, warmed

Fresh lime to squeeze over

Soured cream, useful to cool the chilli if you find it too much

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat.  If cooking in the oven, heat the oil in a lidded ovenproof casserole dish.

Dot the beef pieces around the pan, without overcrowding it, and brown on all sides.  You may have to brown the beef in several batches.  Once browned place in the warming slow cooker, or set aside if cooking in the oven. 

If cooking in the oven turn it on to heat to 140C/120C fan/gas 1.

Heat another tablespoon of oil in the pan and brown the onion.  Add the chopped tomatoes and garlic.  Heat to boiling, then turn off the heat and leave to cool enough to liquidise.

Liquidise the tomato mixture together with all the remaining ingredients apart from the bay leaves

If cooking in a slow cooker, pour the liquidised tomato sauce, add the bay leaves, and add recently boiled water to just cover the meat if required. Cook on High for 6-8 hours until the meat is tender and falling apart.

If cooking in the oven, return the beef to the casserole dish, add the bay leaves, and add 400ml recently boiled water to just cover the meat if required. Cover and cook in the oven for 3 hrs until the meat is tender and falling apart.  Check the beef every hour to ensure it is not drying out, and add recently boiled water to just cover the meat if required. 

When cooked, remove the meat with a slotted spoon and shred using two forks. 

To serve, put some shredded beef onto a mini wrap together with the toppings of your choice, and dip into a small cup of the sauce.  Do not build tacos in advance, as they will go soggy and fall apart.  For the same reason don't use larger tortilla wraps as I did - they fall apart before you get to the end of them!  But even with small wraps this is messy, but delicious.

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Egg Foo Yung/Chow Mein

Egg Fu Yung is a Chinese style omelette, popular in American and British Chinese restaurants, usually served with a soy based gravy. 

Chow mein is a Chinese dish of stir-fried noodles with leftover vegetables, meat or tofu, also popular in America and the UK.

I thought I'd combine both Egg Fu Yung and Chow Mein to use up some leftover cooked chicken, and some eggs that needed using.  This recipe would work well with leftover turkey after Christmas.

Serves 4

3 layers medium egg noodles

4 eggs

300g cooked chicken, turkey, pork, beef, or prawns

1 onion, peeled & thickly sliced

1 garlic clove, peeled & sliced

100g frozen peas

1 chicken stock cube

500ml recently boiled water

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)

1/2 tsp paprika (optional)

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp cornflour

Vegetable oil for frying 

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.  Leave to cool in a pan of cold water.

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a wok over a medium high heat.  

Beat the eggs, and fry in the wok like a omelette for a few minutes so you have a side plate sized disk of cooked egg. Flip the egg over carefully to ensure the egg is cooked through.  Slide the egg onto a plate, chop into bite sized pieces, and wipe the wok out with a piece of kitchen paper.

Heat another tablespoon of oil in the wok over a medium high heat.

Stir fry the onion for 1-2 minutes until it starts to soften or go golden brown.  Add the peas and garlic.

Crumble in the stock cube and melt in the oil and heat.  Add 500ml of hot water, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, turmeric and paprika.  Stir well.

Mix the cornflour with two tablespoons of cold water.  When the 'gravy' is boiling, pour in the cornflour mixture whilst stirring to thicken it.

Drain the noodles and add to the gravy together with the meat or prawns, and chopped egg.  Mix well and serve.

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Vietnamese Noodle Soup (Pho)

A little bit of leftover roast pork inspired me to make Pho (apparently pronounced 'fuh', like 'huh' but with an f)

It can be made with chicken, beef, pork, or tofu.  A lot of online recipes suggest homemade stock, and whilst authentic I made it with good quality stock cubes.  Even using stock cubes, the broth still requires a lot of spices.  I note that ready made pho broth is available in UK supermarkets, but no vegetarian option as far as I can see.

Serves 4

1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 shallots or 1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
1 lemongrass stalk, halved and squashed
2.5cm piece ginger, sliced
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick or 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp coriander seeds or ground coriander
¼ tsp Chinese five spice
8 black peppercorns
1 tsp caster sugar (optional)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 litres good quality chicken (for chicken or pork pho), beef (for beef pho), or vegetable stock

4 rice noodle nests (I used wheat noodles as I didn't have any other noodles)

A handful of sliced cooked pork, chicken, or beef.  For vegetarians/vegans -a 200g block of sliced tofu, or 
1 large carrot, shredded or peeled into ribbon with a vegetable peeler
8 pak choi or Chinese Leaf leaves, cut into 2cm strips
Large bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
Small bunch of mint, chopped

4 spring onions, finely sliced 
1 red chilli, thinly sliced, or ¼ tsp dried per bowl
1 kaffir lime leaf, thinly sliced (optional)
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

In a saucepan big enough to take 1.5 litres, fry the onion and garlic in the vegetable oil over a medium high heat for about 5 minutes until lightly brown and caramelised.

Add the stock and the rest of the flavourings.  Cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.

Whilst the noodles are cooking according to the instructions on the packet, chop/shred all the remaining vegetables and herbs.

When the noodles are cooked, drain and divide between four large bowls.  Divide and arrange the pak choi, carrot, meat/tofu/mushrooms (the mushroom slices can be browned in a non stick frying pan over a high heat to give a little more depth of flavour) on top of the noodles, followed by the coriander, mint, spring onions, chilli, and kaffir lime leaf if using.

Pour the hot stock over the four bowls when the 15 minutes is up, and serve immediately with a quarter of lime to squeeze over.

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Viral Smashed Kofta Wraps

I've seen a lot of reels of mince being squished onto wraps and fried.  My teens love kofta so I thought I'd give it a go.  The benefit of squishing the mince onto wraps means they don't take much cooking, and kids can cook their own without fear of serving themselves raw meat.  The only problem with feeding a family is that you can only cook one tortilla at a time, unless you have an array of frying pans.

Serves 4

500g lamb or beef mince

1 small onion, peeled and grated

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp ras el hanout or harissa

30g fresh coriander or parsley, finely chopped

4 medium flour tortillas

Sunflower oil for frying

4 tbsp greek yoghurt 

1/2 tsp lemon juice (optional)

1 tbsp tahini paste (optional)

1/8th wedge of red or green cabbage, thinly sliced 

1/2 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tbsp apple cider or white wine vinegar

Chilli sauce to serve

Mix the mince, grated onion, 2 of the crushed garlic cloves, chosen spices, and the herbs together.  Cover and chill for 1-24 hours.

When ready to cook, scrunch the cabbage and onion together with a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of vinegar and leave to one side.

Mix the last remaining crushed clove of garlic into the yoghurt together with the tahini and lemon juice if using, and leave to one side with the cabbage salad.

Weigh the flavoured mince and divide into 4.  Squish one quarter of the mince onto one side of a tortilla.

Preheat a pancake pan or shallow frying pan over a medium heat and brush with oil.  

Place the tortilla meat side down onto the hot pan.  Cook for 3-4 minutes until the mince is browned.

Flip over with a fish slice and slide onto a plate.  Add a quarter of the garlic yoghurt and cabbage, and chilli sauce to taste. Roll up and tuck in.

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Potato & Beef Goulash

Most goulash recipes call for at least 1kg of beef for 4 people, but I found this recipe for Goulash Soup in my saved recipes.  In fact it only called for 250g of beef and 250g of potato to make a soup for 6.  So I increased both the beef and potato to make a soupy frugal stew for 4.

Serves 4

1 large onion, peel and finely sliced
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and finely sliced 
500g braising beef, cubed 

1 red pepper, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil
1tbsp paprika
1tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp caraway seeds

400g chopped tomatoes

1 litre beef stock

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 kg potatoes

In a casserole dish, fry the sliced onion in the olive oil over a medium high until golden brown.

Push to one side and fry the beef until outside of the cubes looks browned/cooked.  Stir in the red pepper and garlic, and fry for a few minutes.

Take off the heat for a minute and stir through both kinds of paprika and caraway seeds. Then stir in the chopped tomatoes, beef stock, and vinegar. Return to the heat, cover and bring to the boil.  Once boiling turn down simmer, keep covered, and cook for 1 hour.

After one hour, chop the potatoes into large chunks and push under the liquid in the stew.  If there is not enough liquid, add a little boiling water to ensure everything is covered by about 1cm of liquid.

Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Serve with leafy greens or a salad.

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Suzie Lee's Beef Fried Rice

Stumbled across Suzie Lee's (winner of BBC’s Best Home Cook 2020) recipes on iplayer on a quiet Friday night in.  Last night I made her Beef Fried Rice recipe, which went down a treat with my teens. Below is the recipe copy & pasted from the BBC website

Serves 4

4 eggs
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
40g of ginger
2 carrots
1 courgette (pak choi, peas, or edamame beans)
500g lean beef mince
500g cold cooked basmati rice
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 Spring onions to garnish
Pinch of white pepper
Vegetable oil

Start by chopping the onion. Peel ginger and mince garlic cloves. Peel the carrots and take the ends off the courgette. Slice spring onions for garnish and set to the side.

Heat a large deep pan or wok and fry off beef mince without adding any oil. Break the mince up in the pan with a wooden spoon or spatula so that it breaks into smaller pieces and cooks evenly. Add a tbsp of soy sauce and white pepper to the mince to season. When the mince is cooked, remove from the pan and place to one side.

In the same pan add some vegetable oil. Beat the eggs together in a bowl or jug. Add the eggs to the pan and cook them like an omelette, until you have a cooked ‘disc’ of egg. Be careful not to overcook the egg, slightly under is better than over. When the egg is cooked take it out of the pan and put to one side.

Add enough oil to the pan to coat it. Grate in the peeled ginger and add minced garlic. When you can smell the aromatics, add the onion and grate in carrots and courgette. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring them round until they soften and the liquid evaporates

Make sure the pan is on a high heat and make room in the pan for the cold rice. Add the rice to the pan and stir through. Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce and add the mince back to the pan. Pour the sesame oil in, making sure it hits the metal of the pan to release the flavour. Season with white pepper. Add the oyster sauce and stir through before returning cooked egg to the pan. Mix everything through thoroughly, breaking up the egg as you go. 

Garnish with spring onions.

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River Cottage's Stewed Venison with Juniper & Bay

OH fancied a venison stew for his birthday last weekend. I googled a few recipes but ended up (mostly) following River Cottage's Stewed Venison with Juniper & Bay 

Serves 6

Cooking time 2-3 hours, plus overnight marinading 

2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
200g bacon lardons
800g casserole venison
2 onions, finely sliced
2 large carrots, cut into big chunks
2 celery stalks, sliced
6–10 juniper berries, bashed slightly
2 bay leaves
A large sprig of thyme
At least 500ml beef, venison, chicken or game stock
150ml red wine
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Ideally, marinade the venison overnight in the red wine with the juniper, bay, and thyme in the fridge in a sealed container.

When ready to cook, fry the lardons in 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan. When browned, scoop out with a slotted soon and remove to a casserole dish.

Add the rest of the oil and gently fry the onions until soft but not brown. Add the carrot and celery and gently fry for about 5 minutes. Scoop out with a slotted spoon again, and add to the lardons in the casserole dish. 

Pick the venison out of the red wine marinade, shaking off (but keeping) as much liquid as possible, and brown in the frying pan in batches. Once browned, transfer to the casserole dish. 

When all the venison has been browned and in the casserole dish, pour the red wine marinade into the frying pan and stir around to heat up and deglaze the the pan.  Pour into the casserole dish, then rinse the pan again with a little of the stock and pour this into the casserole dish too. Pour the remaining stock into the casserole dish. The liquid should just cover the meat, so add a little hot water too if there is not enough stock. 

Bring to a simmer, cover with a well fitting lid, and cook over a very low heat for 2–3 hours, until the meat is completely tender.  This can be cooked in the oven at 120°C for the same amount of time, or in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours.

When the meat is cooked, taste the stew and season. The sauce will be thin but well flavoured; if you prefer a thicker sauce, you can either strain the liquid off the meat and boil to reduce and thicken it, then return it to the pan, or add 2 tbsp cornflower mixed to a cream like consistency and stirred into the simmering stew. 

Serve with greens, and a buttery mash or just plain boiled potatoes to be mashed into the sauce.

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Beef Moussaka with Potatoes & Spinach

There was a bit of a Greek theme yesterday. We had Gyros for lunch, followed by Moussaka.

Wanting to use up a lot of homegrown chard and potatoes, I roughly followed Akis Petretzikis How to Make Greek Moussaka video on Jamie Oliver's Food Tube, using wilted chard instead of aubergine and potato, and mature cheddar instead of parmesan.

The children's verdict was, tasty but not as good as lasagna because there was no pasta in it.

Serves 6

1kg potatoes
Bag of spinach, washed 

500g beef mince

2 onion, peeled 

1 large garlic clove, peeled & crushed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 clove

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tin chopped tomatoes

100g butter

100g plain flour

750ml whole milk

1 large free range egg

50g grated cheddar

Olive oil

Fresh thyme

A pinch of nutmeg

Salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C

Slice the potatoes into 2cm slices. Toss the potatoes and one onion (sliced) in about 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp of thyme leaves, and a large pinch of salt. Spread in an even layer or two over the base of a high sided baking dish and bake uncovered for 40 minutes.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan and wilt the washed spinach.  Splash a little water in if the spinach is not dripping with water when you add it. When wilted, remove with tongs to a plate.

Wipe the saucepan out then add 1 tbsp of oil and fry the remaining onion (chopped) over a high heat until it starts to brown. Add the garlic, stir fry for minute, add the cinnamon and clove and fry for a further minute, then add the tomato paste and fry again for another minute.  Add the beef mince, breaking the mince up with a wooden spoon then add the chopped tomatoes and seasoning and cook for 5-10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and leave to one side.

In a separate saucepan add the cold milk, butter, and flour.  Whisk over a medium heat to incorporate the flour, then switch to a wooden spoon or spatula with a flat bottom and continually stir the white sauce, checking it is not setting/sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the sauce starts to thicken, turn the heat down low but continue to cook and stir for a further 5 minutes until it starts to bubble. Turn off the heat, stir in the egg,  and season with pepper and nutmeg. Add 1/3rd of the sauce to the cooked mince.

When the potatoes have had 40 minutes in the oven, take them out and start layering the moussaka. Spread the wilted chard over the potatoes, then the mince with the sauce mixed in, then the remaining white sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheddar and bake for 25-30 minutes or golden brown and bubbling.

Akis Petretzikis said to leave this for at least 1 hour before serving, to allow the sauce and meat to set! We managed about half an hour, and then tucked in with a green salad on the side.

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Easy Turkish Pizza - Lahmacun

Not sure what reminded me of Lahmacun, but it seemed an easy tea after a busy day. After all my kids love pizza, and kofte. And keema naan, as my son reminded me after eating it.

Serves 4

4-8 wraps

500g lamb or beef mince

1/2 sweet red pepper, cored, cut into chunks

1 shallot, or small red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1tsp smoked paprika

1tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp olive oil

A couple of fresh parsley leaves with some stem

Mint & lemon wedges for later

Preheat oven to 200C.

Place everything apart from the lamb mince (and wraps) in the food processor and chop finely. Crumble in the mince and blitz again until a well incorporated paste.

Divide the paste into 4, and decide if you are having one wrap or two. If having one, spread 1/4 of the  paste over the wrap right up to 1cm from the edge.  Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 5 minutes until bubbling.  

Squeeze over lemon juice and sprinkle with chopped mint before serving. Serve in slices like pizza, or rolled up like a wrap.

Minced Beef & Bean Fajitas

Trying to find something other than Spaghetti Bolognese or Chilli con Carne to make with minced beef, I decided to try Fajitas on the kids tonight.  They love wraps, which seemed to completely blinker them to the quite obvious (and disliked) red pepper in the dish.

Serves a greedy 4

8 white & wholemeal wraps
500g beef mince
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 large red onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
1 large clove of garlic
1 red pepper, quartered, seeded and cut into strips
1tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tin mixed beans, drained

To Serve
Lettuce leaves
Plain yoghurt or sour cream
Sliced red onion
Jalapeño chillis
Fresh Coriander

Heat the oil in a saute pan over a high heat. Fry the mince, breaking it up with a wooden spoon and pushing it around the pan. Ideally it will brown, but if you overload the pan like it did with damp freshly thawed mince liquid will soon end up coating the bottom the pan and steaming the meat. No worry.

When no raw meat can be seen push the beef to one side, turn the heat down to medium,  and add the garlic, onion, and red pepper.  Leave for a few minutes then stir into the meat. Add the spices and the beans and mix again.  Heat gently, stirring so nothing burns, until the beans are hot.

Serve on a bed of lettuce on a wrap with toppings as desired.

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Venison Casserole

Whilst we are trying to reduce the meat we eat, we have concluded as a family that venison bought from the local butcher was better than intensively farmed 'cheap' meat.  And it was filled out with lots of veg.

Serves 4

500g braising venison
500g mushrooms
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
1 stick of celery, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp plain flour
1tbsp redcurrant jelly
250ml red wine
250ml recently boiled water
1 organic beef stock cube, crumbled

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sauce pan and fry the onion until starting brown.  Add the celery, carrot, and garlic. Stir, and then gently fry for a minute or two.  Transfer to a casserole dish.

Toss the venison in seasoned flour then brown, in batches if necessary, in another tablespoon of oil.  Add the red wine and scrape as much of the browned flour off the bottom of the pan.  Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to the boil then pour over the vegetables in the casserole dish.

Cover the casserole dish and place in the preheated oven for 1.5h or the venison and vegetables are tender.

Serve with leafy greens and mashed potato.

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Best Ever Chilli Con Carne

My new and improved Chilli con Carne recipe.

I love the flavours in Jamie Oliver's Kerryann's Veggie con Chilli so tried using these in my tried and tested Chilli recipe.  And added more beans as my growing children are eating more and more.

It does look like a great long list of ingredients, but it's worth it.

Serves 6

500g beef mince
1 large onion
1 large clove of garlic
1 large carrot
1 large stick of celery
1 sweet bell pepper
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
A large pinch of ground nutmeg
1 tbsp oregano
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin of recently boiled water
2 tins beans (kidney, chickpeas, baked beans, whatever!) or 250g beans, soaked and pre-cooked
1 beef stock cube
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional)
1 tbsp sunflower or olive oil
Salt & pepper

Finely chop onion and garlic and fry gently in large saucepan with the oil whilst you finely chop the other vegetables.  When these are chopped, add them to the frying pan and fry gently with a lid on for 5 minutes to soften them stirring from time to time so they don't catch on the bottom of the pan.

When the onion has softened a little, push the vegetables to the side of the pan and add the beef, breaking it up with a wooden spoon.  Stir in the tomato paste, then add the rest of the ingredients not forgetting a canful of water and continue breaking up the mince whilst bringing it all to the boil.  The chilli powder is optional, and I often don't add it to the kids helping, adding it only after they have eaten.  I know the name of the dish is 'Chilli' con Carne but it still tastes great without it!

Once boiling, put on the lid and simmer for 30 minutes to ensure the vegetables soften and lose themselves in the sauce.  After half an hour, check the consistency.  If you like it looser you may not need to reduce it much, but if you like a more porridgey chilli boil it gently without the lid off for up to half hour again to thicken the sauce.

I usually serve ours up with rice, baked potatoes, tortilla chips...  And a generous handful of grated mature cheddar cheese.

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Pork Lasagne

Having used pork one day because it turned out I had no minced beef, pork lasagne is now middle daughter's (Sprout) preferred lasagne.  There is just something about pork. It is light and aromatic...

Serves a greedy 4

Ragú
500g pork mince
1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 large stick of celery, finely diced
1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 glass of white wine
1 carton of passata or chopped tomatoes
Pepper & salt

White Sauce
750ml milk
2 heated tbsp plain flour
Large knob of butter  or 1 tbsp olive oil
1 large bay leaf
A pinch of nutmeg
Pepper & salt

Large handful of mature cheddar
12-16 lasagne sheets

Start by making the the ragu.  Soften the onion, carrot, & celery in the olive oil for about 5 minutes over a medium heat.  Add the rest of the ingredients, breaking up the lumps of mince.  Cover and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer with the lid on whilst you make the white sauce.

In a separate saucepan add all the sauce ingredients over a medium heat. Incorporate everything by whisking gently every minute or so.  As soon as you feel the sauce thickening on the bottom of the pan, change from the whisk to a wooden spoon and dislodge all the thickening sauce from the bottom of the pan.  Turn the heat down to low and stir pretty constantly still you have a smooth sauce.  Season to taste then turn off the heat.  Season the ragú to taste and turn the heat off that too, taking the pan lid off to let some of heat out.

In my experience, layering the lasagne takes a degree of skill/experience.  We like quite a lot of pasta so I aim for 3 layers of 4 sheets, but it is still guesswork trying to divide a pan's worth of ragú and white sauce into 4/5.

Start with a layer of ragú in your lasagne dish,  I've worked out that 2 small ladles is roughly 1/4 of sauce.  Then 2 ladles of white sauce, and a layer of pasta sheets.  Repeat two more times.  Ideally finish with a layer of pasta sheets covered in a thick layer white sauce, but often don't have enough white sauce left so just pile more white sauce on top of your last meat layer, topped with the cheese.

Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned on top and bubbling.  Serve with a green salad.  Garlic bread should not be needed with all the extra pasta.

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Slow Cooker Beef & Ale Stew

This is my version of Mary Berry's Beef & Ale Stew, adapted for the slow cooker, and minus the horseradish dumplings.  Although I have posted a Slow Cooker Beef in Beer before (with dumplings I note), this recipe has to be my new favourite.  I am not a fan of stewed vegetables in stews, with the exception of mushrooms which give this dish a really rich flavour.  That and the beer.

Serves 4
2–3 tbsp olive oil
800g braising beef, shin or ox cheek, cut into cubes
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
200g mushrooms, cut to the same size as the beef
50g plain flour
500ml ale
150ml just boiled water
1 beef stock cube

Switch the slow cooker onto high to warm.

Cube the beef and brown in batches 1tbsp oil in a saucepan.  When brown, remove each batch to the warming slow cooker leaving behind as much oil as possible.  After the beef is browned, fry the onions in the saucepan, adding more oil if needed.  When brown add these to the slow cooker, and fry the mushrooms and carrot again with a little more oil if needed.  Remove these to the slow cooker after a few minutes.

Whisk a little ale into the flour to make a smooth paste then whisk in the remaining ale.  Dissolve the stock cube in the boiling water and add both the stock and ale to the saucepan.  Bring to the boil, scraping off all the meat, onion, & mushroom bits that will have stuck to the pan.  Once boiling, turn off the heat and stir into the meat in the slow cooker.  Cover the stew and cook for 6-8 hours when the meat will be meltingly soft.

We are serving ours with mashed potato and greens.

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Slow Cooker Chinese Style Beef Stew

Trying to ring the changes with slow cooker stews I thought I'd go for a Chinese style stew.

I pretty much followed the BBC Good Food's recipe Chinese-style Braised Beef One Pot and infact had to cook it in the oven as I left too little time to stew it in the slow cooker.  I will try it another time in the slow cooker but would leave it on High for 6-8 hours to melt the sinewy beef.

I also prepared Bok Choy in Oyster Sauce, rather than the plain steamed bok choy BBC Good Food suggested.  Broccoli, cabbage, kale, spring greens etc could also be prepared in this way to liven them up a little.

My annotated recipe is below, for when I need to repeat it

3-4 tbsp olive oil (I used sunflower)
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Good thumb-size piece of fresh root ginger, peeled & shredded (I never peel ginger, just chop it finely or grate it)
1 bunch spring onions, sliced (I didn't have spring onions so sent my son out to find as many wild chives as he could in the local park)
1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced (Didn't have a fresh one so added 1/4 tsp of hot chilli flakes)
1½ kg braising beef (I used diced shin of beef .  I only bought 1kg based on 200g per person and this was plenty for a family of 5)
2 tbsp plain flour, well seasoned
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 star anise (optional)
2 tsp light muscovado sugar (Used sweet soy Kecap Manis so did  not add any extra sugar)
3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry
3 tbsp dark soy sauce, plus more to serve
500ml beef stock (1 beef stock cube dissolved into 500ml boiling water)

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large, shallow casserole. Fry the garlic, ginger, onions and chilli for 3 mins until soft and fragrant. Tip onto a plate. Toss the beef in the flour, add 1 tbsp more oil to the pan, then brown the meat in batches, adding the final tbsp oil if you need to. It should take about 5 mins to brown each batch properly.

Add the five-spice and star anise (if using) to the pan, tip in the gingery mix, then fry for 1 min until the spices are fragrant. Add the sugar, then the beef and stir until combined. Keep the heat high, then splash in the wine or sherry, scraping up any meaty bits. Heat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2.

Pour in the soy and stock (it won’t cover the meat completely), bring to a simmer, then tightly cover, transfer to the oven and cook for 1½-2 hrs, stirring the meat halfway through. The meat should be very soft, and any sinewy bits should have melted away. Season with more soy. This can now be chilled and frozen for up to 1 month.

I would add the stew to the slow cooker at the stage it is added to the oven above.  I'll update this when I have put my words into practise!

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Slow Cooker Beef in Red Wine

It's tipping it down outside, but I'm happy as I've just found the remains of Sunday's beef stew and eaten it.

I did find another portion a few weeks ago at the bottom of the freezer and wondered if I could recreate it.  But Dad took Sunday dinner into his own hands, as he does, and has managed to make a similarly tasty stew without knowing it.

With a slow cooker I think the trick is to leave most vegetables out. We just steamed some to have on the side later.

1kg stewing beef, shin (off the bone is cheaper), or ox cheek cut into bite sized pieces
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp plain flour
2 bay leaves
1 stick of cinnamon or a star anise (this gives a lovely warming tingle)
500ml red wine
Beef stock cube
Boiling water to top up
Cornflour to thicken

Toss the beef in the flour and brown in a frying pan.  Place into the heating slow cooker then fry the onions and garlic, adding more oil if needed and fry until beginning to brown then add to the slow cooker.  Heat the wine in the frying pan with the crumbled beef stock cube and scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan.  Pour over the beef once it has come to the boil.  Add the bay leaves and cinnamon or star anise if using and top up with boiling water so there is about 2cm covering the top of the beef.

Leave to cook on high for at least 6 hours.  And something I've only recently learnt, try not to peek!  It lowers the temperature and makes the cooking time even longer, and shin and ox cheek all the tenderising help they can get!

After 6 hours, when tender enough pour off the liquid into a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Mix 2 heaped teaspoons of cornflour with a little water until it is the consistency of single cream and add to the simmering sauce to thicken.  Return to the sauce to the meat in the slow cooker and season to taste. 

Dad served ours with roast potatoes and parsnips as it was Sunday, but it works just as well with boiled or mashed potatoes or even pasta.

Bolognese/Ragu Sauce made with Leftovers

The leftover Pork & Stilton, Venison & Damson, and Cumberland sausages from the last BBQ of the year found their way into this ragu, which in turn was made into a midweek lasagne.  The meat part  of this sauce could equally be made with leftover roast beef or roast pork.

A food processor makes light work of all the vegetable & meat chopping.

1 onion
1 large carrot
1 stick of celery
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large handfuls of leftover meat
1 tin chopped tomatoes

Peel the onion and carrot.  Roughly chop onion and garlic and process into a fine rubble in the food processor.  Fry gently in a wide saucepan to soften whilst you roughly chop and process the celery and carrot to a fine rubble too.  Add these to the pan once chopped.  Cover and sweat over a gently heat for 5 minutes or so whilst you roughly chop the meat and process this to a rubble.

Once the onions start to look translucent, push the vegetables to once side, turn up the heat a little and add the meat.  Leave it to sizzle for a few minutes before adding the tomatoes (liquidised if you like, as my kids prefer) together with a can of recently boiled water.

Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid of for 20-30 minutes and the sauce has reduced and thickened to your taste.  If using leftover roast you may wish to add pepper and salt to taste.  Using processed meat, I found there was no need to add any further seasoning.

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Simple Venison Casserole...with Chocolate

I picked up a pack of casserole venison in our local butcher during the week as the ideal thing to put in the slow cooker on Saturday, to cook whilst we spent the afternoon in the rugby club celebrating the opening of the new pitches.

Not the cheapest meat, I opted only to buy a 500g pack between five of us and bulk it out with something.  I settled on this recipe with button mushrooms, as I am not a fan (as I might have mentioned) of overly stewed carrot and celery.   Only one child baulked at them.

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
500g casserole venison
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 large clove of garlic, finely sliced
50g smoked bacon offcuts or 2 rashers smoked bacon, diced
200g button mushrooms
200ml red wine
1 beef stock cube, crumbled
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
Boiling water

At the end of the cooking time:-
4 heaped tsp cornflour
4 cubes dark chocolate
Salt and pepper, to taste

Fry the cubed venison in the olive oil in batches to brown it.  When brown, place in the warming slow cooker.  Fry the onion, garlic, bacon and mushrooms in the pan after the venison.  When it begins to brown or catch add the wine, stock cube and redcurrant jelly.  Bring to the boil and pour into the slow cooker.  Top up with about 200ml boiling water so the meat is just peeking out.  Stir, cover, and leave on Auto for about 6-8 hours.

When ready to eat, pour back into the pan you used to fry everything in if still available.  Mix a little water into the cornflour until it is the consistency of double cream and stir into to the simmering stew to thicken.  Melt the chocolate into the sauce (mainly done to win the kids over admittedly), check the seasoning and serve with mashed potato, or pasta if you think you'll still need additional help winning the kids over!

Vietnamese Beef Pho

When a friend, who lived in Vietnam for a while, said she was making a Beef Pho I thought this was something I had to try for myself particulary as I had a little rare beef left from a roast.  She texted me a couple of photos of recipes from two recipe books and I muddled through from there.

A lot of 'proper' Vietnamese recipes instruct you to roast beef bones and make your own stock.  Don't bother!  I came across beef bones by chance (I buy chicken carcasses weekly to make stock for Watercress Soup that I sell to a local farm shop) but it was a long, steamy, and ultimately greasy task.  And I think I'll stick to organic beef stock cubes in future.

Serves 2

200ml wide rice noodles
500ml beef stock
1 star anise
3cm root ginger, shredded

3 bunches bok choy, shredded (I used equivalent amount of sugar snap peas, baby corn, spring onions)
Thinly sliced red onion
Handful thinly sliced raw or rare beef
Half a large bunch of coriander
2 tbsp chopped mint or 1 tbsp dried mint
1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes

Fish sauce and lime or lemon juice to serve

Prepare the vegetables, onion, beef, coriander and mint first.  Bring the stock to the boil and add the start anise and ginger and simmer whilst cooking the noodles according to the packet's instructions.

When the noodles are cooked, drain and divide between two large bowls.  Quickly divide all the other ingredients and place vegetables, onion, beef, and herbs into the two bowls and pour over the simmering stock.  Add fish sauce, a squeeze of lime or lemon juice, and chilli flakes before eating immediately.

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