Hi everyone and welcome to the blog. This week’s blog is continuing with its comfort food theme from last week, but also it’s going to prove that convenience food doesn’t necessarily mean junk food. The recipe ideas that follow are ideal for all sorts of occasions family meals, dinner parties, or for just tucking into on a cold, wet, dark miserable night in front of the tv.
The recipe featured this week is Basic Stew. The herb of the week is Chervil.
My featured recipe is Basic Stew, recipe by Jamie Oliver, courtesy of Jamie Magazine Sept/Oct 2010.
The stew is one of the most versatile staple food stuffs known around the world. Once you have the base for your stew, all you need to do is to add at least 3 ingredients and this can be turned into something amazingly tasty. Don’t be put off by the cooking times, it might take several hours to cook but this leaves you free to get on with any other jobs you might have to do, or time to chat with your family or guests.
This recipe serves a 4-6 people, takes approx. 10mins to prepare and can take from 1.1/2 to 3hrs to cook, dependant on the recipe below.
Basic Stew
2 x Celery Sticks – trimmed and chopped
2 x Medium Onions – roughly chopped
2 x Carrots – sliced lengthways and roughly chopped
Olive Oil
1 heaped tbsp x Plain Flour
1 x 400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
Beef & Ale (3 hours)
3 x Fresh or Dried Bay Leaves
500g x Stewing Beef - diced
500ml x Ale (Guinness or Stout)
Pork & Cider (2.1/2 hours)
3 x Sage Sprigs
500g x Stewing Pork - diced
500ml x Medium-Dry Cider
Chicken & White Wine (1.1/2 hours)
3 x Thyme Sprigs
500g x Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs - diced
500ml x White Wine
Lamb & Red Wine (2.1/2 hours)
3 x Rosemary Sprigs
500g x Stewing Lamb - diced
500ml x Red Wine*
*Good quality red wine, don’t cook with wine that you wouldn’t drink
If using the oven, preheat it to 180C Gas Mark 4. Put a casserole pan on a medium heat. Add the veg and your chosen herb with 2 glugs of oil and fry for 10mins. Add the meat and flour. Pour in the booze and tomatoes. Give it a stir and add a teaspoon of sea salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to the boil, put the lid on and simmer slowly for the times shown above. Remove the lid for the final half hour of cooking – add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry. When done, your meat should be tender. Remove any bay leaves or herb stalks before serving, and taste for seasoning.
To turn this stew into a “pie”, how about adding a pastry lid? To this you will need;-
500g x Puff Pastry
Plain Flour, for dusting
1 x Large Egg
A Splash of Milk
Preheat the oven to 180C Gas Mark 4. Transfer the cooked stew to a large pie dish and let it cool completely. Remove the pastry from the fridge 10mins before you need to roll it out. Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour and roll out the pastry until it’s the thickness of a £1 coin (about 3mm) and large enough to cover the dish. Beat the egg with a little milk. Brush the edge of the dish with a little of this. Wind the pastry around the rolling pin, then unroll it over the dish. Trim off any excess pastry and crimp the edges. Brush with a little egg mixture and make a small hole in the middle of the pastry to let the steam escape. Bake in the bottom of the oven for 40mins, or until the pastry is golden and crisp.
Herb of the Week – Chervil (Anthricus cerefolium)
Chervil can be traced back to being introduced into Britain by the Romans. It is a hardy annual which can grow to a height of 30-60cm, with a spread of 30cm. It bears tiny, white flowers which grow in clusters, along with light-green fern-like leaves.
The leaves are rich in Vitamin C, carotene, iron and magnesium. An infusion of chervil tea can be used to stimulate the digestion and to ease circulatory disorders, liver complaints and chronic catarrh, also the fresh leaves can be added as a warm poultice to alleviate achy joints.
Chervil is regarded as one of the finest herbs in French cuisine, due to its vibrant colour and parsley and aniseed-like flavours. It is a versatile herb, it can be used generously in all manner of dishes from salads through to meat and fish dishes. Always remember to add the fresh chervil towards the end of the cooking process to avoid losing any of its delicate flavour.
I close this week’s blog with some news... this blog is moving home. As from next week, October 2nd 2010 Garfysplace will be in its new home @ http://chefgarfy.blogspot.com/ Many thanks for your continued viewing of my blog, I hope you continue to do so at its new home. Pooky’s Playbox will continue at its current home, @ http://chefgarfy.blog.co.uk/ for the time being.
If you have enjoyed my blog, or have tried out the recipes I have included and wish to comment, please feel free to comment using the comment button or by visiting my guestbook, all comments and suggestions will be gratefully received.
Hope you enjoy!!..... ChefGarfy =D
http://chefgarfy.blogspot.com/
http://chefgarfy.blog.co.uk/
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