Hearty Beef Stew served with Sweet Roasted Butternut

What better way to fill your tummy with a healthy hearty stew. Though this dish may take some time to make (read a lot of time) it is well worth the wait. 

We (I say we because in actual fact, T made this meal and I was there for picture taking and moral support) made this on one of our days off last week (we were both on leave for a week – more on that in another post wink wink). 

To get the best results, make this dish when you are sure have at least 2hours to spare OR if you are blessed with a slow cooker, you can throw it together before you leave for work and leave it on all day ;)

700g stewing beef

1 onion

1tbsp sunflower oil

¼ tsp chopped garlic

½ tsp thyme

1 ½ tsp steak and chops spice

1 bay leaf

1 can chopped tomato

3 medium sized carrots (roughly chopped)

2 potatoes (although we used more because its my thing – we used 5)

1 cup beef stock

salt and pepper to taste

Slice onions and brown over medium heat.

Add meat to pot and brown with onions (you can coat meat in flour prior to adding it to the pot to help thicken the sauce.)

Preheat oven to 180° C
Add garlic, thyme, bay leaf and steak and chops spice to meat and onion mix. Cook for 2 minutes until garlic has cooked.

Add tomatoes, stock, potatoes and carrots and bring to the boil.

Place pot (lid on) in oven and cook for 2-2 ½ hours.

If you're at home making this dish, stir the pot every 45 minutes and add water as needed.

For last ½ hour of cooking, remove the lid from the pot to help thicken the stew.

Butternut

2 medium sized butternut

Preheat oven to 180°C

Chop butternut in half (lengthways) and remove seeds – you should have 4 pieces of butternut.

Place butternut in baking tray and bake for an hour or until soft.

I chose not to add any sugar to the butternut as I'm trying to keep the calories down. If you would really prefer additional sweetener, drizzle some honey on the pumpkin.

To serve

Use a fork to fluff up the butternut while still in its casing. Take care not to tear to the butternut skin as this makes for a better display :)

Place stew on top of fluffed up butternut and serve!

Enjoy!

Going the extra mile to plate the food well will be appreciated by your guests/family/better half/friend whoever you choose to share this meal with. And trust me, US, this meal is DEFINITELY worth sharing. 

Dinner for 2 to the power of 2.

P squared – Prego and Potatoe

T has been working late lately and when this happens, I somehow lose my lustre for exotic cooking, Not wanting to starve myself or constantly eat take-away's, I opted to make something simple, quick yet still tasty – I call it p-squared :)

Side note: I always opt to cook the starch first, as it takes longer to make than the Pregos *however* because Pregos take long to marinate, they appear first in this recipe list. 

 Pregos

2 cups of white wine

5 minute steaks (I bought mine from Pick n Pay)

1 generous spoon of garlic( less if you're not a fan of garlic)

A good pinch of salt

1 tsp meat tenderiser

Drizzle of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) (Think Jamie Oliver drizzle)

Method:

Place steaks in glass bowl and smother in wine, spice, salt and garlic. Allow to marinate for a few hours, The longer the better. You could marinate the night before you intend to cook it. Or throw it together before you leave for work in the am – bottom line is the longer it marinates, the better it will turn out :)

Gently fry the steaks in a hot pan that's been drizzled with EVOO.

Add some of the marinade to the pan while steaks are frying. They don't need to fry for more than approx 5 minutes (these steaks are very thin)

Potatoe Bake

6 medium sized potatoes (I used 7 for good measure :))

400ml cold milk

Royco spring onion potatoe bake mix (Yes I know foodies reading this are probably frowning upon this as some see it as cheating – yes I cheated this one time :))

3 sprigs spring onion – chopped (Optional)

Cayenne pepper (Optional)

Generous Splash of Cream (Optional)

Slice the potatoes into thin slices and layer in oven proof dish.

If you're adding spring onions, add them now by sprinkling over the potatoes

Mix Royco mix according to packet instructions and pour over the potatoe bake. (If you're adding cream, mix it into the Royco mix or pour a generous amount over the potatoes)

If using Cayenne Pepper, add some now before putting dish in oven.

Bake at 180 degrees celcius for an hour.

When complete, add some grated cheddar to the dish and grill for few minutes until cheese reaches desired “golden brown” colour. I like the taste of slightly overcooked cheese so usually leave it in for quite a few minutes.

Serve with some veggies or salad. Lick yo lips!! :)

It's 10:06 and T is still not home. So glad I've already had dinner :)

This post was written the other day! Thankfully today is FRIDAYand I am looking forward to lots of QT with him yayyyy :) :) 

Have a fabulous weekend everyone! 

PS: It's even better to make this over the weekend because you marinate them tonight and cook them tomorrow later afternoon....juicy! Lick yo lips :)
 

Vegetable Tagine with olive and parsley couscous

Last week I was guilty of gluttony. A certain pizza establishment based in the Hyde Park shopping centre had this great special on(they still do if you're interested) – a small pizza for 29 bucs. The special – you could choose ANY pizza (yes even if it had expensive things like seafood on it) and you would only pay R29..anyway I took fulll advantage of this and ate 3 pizzas in a space of 5 days..they were good pizzas but certainly not good for my waistline..

So this week I have vowed to eat healthily hoping that my body would forgive me! Visited fruit and veg and stocked up on all the 'love-my-body- goodies I could get...

Dinner last night would make any vegetarian proud. Here's the recipe.

Vegetable Tagine with olive and parsley couscous

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 med red onion thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp dried chilli flakes            } I combined these two and used the chilli and garlic mix and just                                                      added 2 tsps.

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp tumeric powder

500g pumpkin  - I used roasted butternut

2 med potatoes chopped coarsely

2 ½ cups veg stock

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

½ cup coarsely chopped coriander

- Heat oil and cook onion (till soft) and garlic and chilli mix

- Add spices and seeds: cook, stirring until fragrant (such a great smell u'll know when its fragrant)

- Add the potatoe (As mentioned above I used roasted butternut which I didn't add to the tagine but instead placed alongside the meal). If you don't want to do that then at this stage add the butternut to the potatoe and spice mix.

- Stir in stock, bring to the boil. Reduce heat and let simmer uncovered until veggies are tender.

- Add can of chickpeas.

- Cook (simmer uncovered) for about 10 minutes (sauce will thicken slightly by now). The veggies should be 'tender' at this point,,,which means its READY!:)

Olive and Parsely Couscous

Cook couscous according to packet instructions, I made 2 cups of couscous

spoon of butter

1 1/3 cups black pitted olives

½ cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsely

Couscous: Add olives and chopped flat leaf parsely to couscous and mix all together. I added another spoon of butter to this mix ;)

Side Note: If you want, you can cook the couscous with 1.5 cup of veg stock instead of plain old water.

It's ready to be served. As you can see in the pics I took, this time I chose to put the butternut alongside the tagine instead of mixed in with the tagine...both ways work just as well! I felt full and welllll nourished after this meal! :)

Hope you enjoy. Oh if you want to make it a day ahead, you can...just store the tagine and couscous separately in the fridge!

My weekend - like a picture book ;)

Mixture for shortbread..rubbing my hand through this mixture was so much fun! It took me back to my days in Swaziland, in my grannys kitchen when I used to stand on her kitchen chair to reach the table..would help her mix everything together and wait eagerly for the freshly baked goods...GOOD MEMORIES!!

Close up of the buttery goodness

End product

My lovely sister playing with the decor for my cupcakes..

Last Saturday we went for drinks @ the office in Greenside..will do another post on the venue..but this was a gingerbread mule followed by a Jagerbomb! hmmm goodie!

I met mom, Jand L (my younger sister - one is 17 and the other is 25) for breakfast at Blubird Shopping center..there is this really great old school family-togetherness- feeling restaurant there called Bay Leaf and Sage..awesome service and awesome food in an awesome setting (too many awesomes?? haha)  Do yourself a favour and wake up early one saturday or sunday am - have breakfast there! Your body will thank you.

J had this for lunch...a creamy pesto pasta with chicken and mushrooms...really good

J's favourite - Cappuccino with LOTSSSS of cream! And she has this allll the time but doesn't put on any wright! ARGH hate it!! Wish I was that lucky,,I just look at it and I gain 1kg ;)

This was Sunday Lunch..well Monday lunch with the family...was my grannys birthday (she turned 68 this year but doesn't look a day over 50!!) and we decided to invite the family over for lunch! I LOVE family time!! With all my heart and soul! In this mix is Roasted Potatoes, Lamb Stew, Mutton Curry, Savoury Rice, Chicken Breyani, Creamed Spinach, Butternut, J's special Pasta Thermador, Baked Bean salad and potatoe salad - with wine on the side of course :)

Part 2 of family get together....We had pancakes with strawberrys and cream and/or ice cream - whatever you wished for :) These strawberrys make me happy cos they're soooo fresh and bright and earthy! Summer is DEFINITELY on its way! Cannot wait to experiment with strawberry desserts! nyom nyom!

A chocolate cake that I made at 0830 in the am! I don't lik waking up early but it was a special day for granny so I was up with the birds busy "bee-ing" it up in the kitchen...

YUMMYY

I tried to be different with my dessert...as always...and decided to tear my pancake into long strips and then layer it with cream AND ice cream with strawberrys thrown in the mix...needless to say it was way too much for my to finish ...but it was soooo pretty!! just look at it! :)

And that my dear friends is what I got up to sometime ago :)

(From my old blog home)

But I realised that this qas written 2 years ago and Survivor was on TV...Guess what...Survivor is currently on SABC3! hahaha Freaky

All the talk yesterday about mashed potatoe on brightsides' blog made me hungry..and seeing that potatoes are my poison, I decided to ditch the healthy eating for one night and indulge!!!

Soooo I made mashed potatoe !!

 

boil potatoe in water and however u decide to make it *wink wink*. BUTTT hold on...the mash was missing an important ingredient!! BUTTER!!! I always make my mash with salt, pepper, milk n butter but seeing that we're trying to be healthy our house, we haven't bought butter for 2 months...mash was a little...um boring... (how else do u make mash creamy without using butter)

Couldn't eat the mash alone so I decided to lightly fry some fish. I usually mix flour, fish spice and egg for the batter but was lazy so decided to ditch the egg (but more on this later ;).

• Hake Fillets cut into quarters
• Roll fish quarters in the flour and fish spice mixture (about a quarter cup of flour and 2 spoons of fish spice - depends on how much fish u're doing)
• add to frying pan...fry lightly on either side till u think it's done ;o)
• Fish is done...set aside

Was wishing for a gravy of some sorts so decided to make a 'deluxe' baked bean gravy (ingredients below):

• 1 onion
• garlic
• ginger
• coriander
• basil
• some curry powder
• 1 can of baked beans in tomatoe sauce
• ALL GOLD tomatoe sauce (I prefer all gold but any tomatoe sauce would work) 

Finely chop the onion and add it along with the garlic and ginger to some oil. Fry until golden brown. Chop coriander and basil and add that to the same pan. Then add the curry powder (i used one spoonfull of mother in law spice) cook for a few minutes (like the spice to cook before adding anything else). Now add Baked Beans and stir all together ;) You could do this in order I guess - it wouldn't make a difference (don't think it would) Then add tomatoe sauce and leave to simmer for few minutes.

"Dinners ready babe" .....

But wait....I remembered that I wanted to make "CARMALISED" onion *haha* so decided to finely chop one onion...kinda fried it till it was 'soft' then added sugar (carmalised in my mind = sugar+onion) fried a little longe till thought it was ready! Got my loving boyfriend to test! (drum roll.....) was toooo sweet! So we decided to add vinegar! Ta daaaaaa....we have sweet n sour onions!!

And finallllyyyy dinner was done...in time for us to watch survivor!

Oh my heaven!!!

I have this unbelievable love and "lust" for potatoes! I could eat potatoes all day everyday..any which way - boiled, baked, fried, steamed, mashed, curried and a whole host of other ways!! I came across the following recipe a few weeks ago and decided to give it a try, the same night I got the recipe.

Now, I'm not a fan of camembert cheese, but I love cheese! And I figured that Cheese, all stringy and tasty, would go so well with my 1st love - POTATOES!!!! It took me more than an hour to make this dish (prep time and cooking time) but it was OH SO worth the wait!!! I had this dish for 2 consecutive days and my heart broke when I had to throw out the last little bit of pie! Anyway I hope u enjoy this pie as much as I enjoyed making it and eating it!!! :)


6 large potatoes, peeled and cooked (I used 10 potatoes cos mine were kinda small and I LOVE potatoes ;))
2 large onions, finely sliced
1 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 rolls puff pastry
1 1/2 cup grated mature cheddar
2 rounds camembert, sliced
Salt, pepper & paprika to taste
125ml cream
2 Tbs onion soup powder
1 egg, beaten

In a pan, fry the onions in some oil until soft and golden.

Add the garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.

Remove and set aside.

Thinly slice the potatoes, and set aside.

Roll the pastry out to about 2-3mm thick.

Place on a suitable baking tray.

Spread the onions over the pastry leaving a 2-3cm border free.

Scatter the Cheddar cheese over the onions followed by a layer of sliced potatoes.

Season each layer of potato well with salt, pepper and paprika.

Layer the camembert over the potatoes, followed by another layer of potatoes.

Season well.

Mix the soup powder with the cream and beat until smooth.

Slowly pour over the potatoes and bring the edges of the pastry up.

Roll out the remaining roll of pastry and lay over the pie.

Crimp the edges and brush with the beaten egg.

Bake in the oven (180°c) for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp.

Some notes:
- I don't think two rolls of puff pastry are necessary! Yes having pastry at the bottom of the pie is great but you don't have to use it.
- Make sure that your potatoes are cooked thoroughly cooked through. I made the mistake of parboiling them thinking that they would cook faster in the oven (mistake!! so I had to bake my pie longer than the prescribed time shown above)
- I tried to be smart and used a whole carton of cream (it was really creamy and great but while it was baking in the oven, some of the cream 'escaped' from the dish :)
- Don't be shy with ur cheese!! Or the paprika! :)

Enjoy with a green salad if u're feeling guilty about this indulgent dish! I never had that feeling *cough cough* hahaha

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did! I will most def b making it again!