Beef Bourguinon

Is this not the most beautiful thing you have ever seen??? My lovely cousin gave me this gorgeous Le Creuset pot for my 30th birthday last month (she knows me well). I have been so taken with it that it has been sitting unused in the dining room for the last 4 weeks. I would stare at it every day and marvel at its finish, colour and size, all the while being terrified of actually putting it to use.

I felt that it's maiden voyage needed to produce something special...something worthy of the gourmet cookware it was being prepared in.

So, Beef Bourguinon it was! A relatively simple dish, with minimal ingredients but anything that calls for a full bottle of red wine is DEFINITELY special.

INGREDIENTS

2-3 tbsp olive oil
50g butter
2 tbsp seasoned flour
1.2 kg chuck or shin steak, cut into large chunks (about 5cm)
18 small shallots or button onions
18 button mushrooms
1 large onion, sliced
100g bacon or pancetta, cubed
4 cloves garlic, crushed but left whole
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
750ml red burgundy wine

DIRECTIONS
Heat olive oil and butter in casserole, toss beef in seasoned flour then brown in batches over medium-high heat.

Remove and set aside. Add shallots and caramelise, set aside on separate plate, repeat with button mushrooms and add to shallots.

Add little more oil if necessary and fry sliced onion and bacon until onions softened and bacond browned.

Add garlic, bay and thyme then return beef and any juices to casserole and stir together.

Pour in the wine, season, bring to a simmer then lower heat and simmer gently on the stove, partly covered, for two hours (or cover and transfer to oven at 140C). 

Add the shallots and mushrooms and simmer for a further half an hour. Check for seasoning and serve. This gets better and better as leftovers also!!

Sadly, the picture of the finished product does not look as spectacular as it tasted. I guess I had tired myself out from playing badminton and volleyball all afternoon while it simmered.

 

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
An indulgence...just leave it at that.

Chunky Pork and Bean Stew

Hmm...is this a stew or a Chili?? Who knows, but I can confirm one thing for you, It is definitely yummy!!!

Stew (Wikipedia) - A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy.

Chili (Wikipedia) - is a spicy stew containing chili peppers, meat (usually beef), tomatoes and often beans. 

This recipe is a variation on a Weight Watchers Recipe (they call it Chili) but I made several changes to suit my own tastes. One thing to note is that it makes A LOT...like at least 10 servings, so its a perfect recipe to make ahead of time and freeze or portion out for weekday meals (like I did). 


INGREDIENTS

1 medium-large spanish onion, chopped   
4 garlic cloves (medium), chopped 
1 cup baby carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn   
2 jalapeño peppers, I left the seeds and things in because I like the heat but feel free to scrape them out if you aren’t interested in it being spicy
1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp garlic powder   
1/2 tsp table salt   
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground   
1 pound uncooked lean pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch chunks   
19 oz canned black beans, drained and rinsed   
19 oz canned kidney beans (I used red), drained and rinsed   
1 cup canned tomato sauce
29 oz canned diced tomatoes, undrained   
6 oz canned tomato paste   

Here's a pic of just the veggies and seasonings

DIRECTIONS

Throw everything in the crockpot (no smaller than 5 qt or it will overflow), give it a stir and cook it on high for 6-8 hours, or until the pork is at your desired doneness.  

I was out all day so I cooked it on low for about 7 hours and then on high for about an hour and a half. It was done enough that the meat was tender but still chunky, which is exactly what I was aiming for. 

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serving Size - 1 cup

WW points - 6

Calories - 294

Fat - 4g
Carbohydrates - 34g
Protein - 33g
Fibre - 10g

Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oats

If you are like me you need speedy and portable options for weekday breakfasts. I am not the type that gets up hours prior to work so that I can have a nice leisurely morning of reading the paper, making breakfast, picking out your outfit, grooming, etc etc. People who start their days like this are crazy people and I don't get it. YOU COULD BE SLEEPING DURING ALL THAT TIME!!!

I am more the type to set everything up the night before, set my alarm for 20 minutes prior to my departure time and then enjoy that extra glorious hour of sleep. However, keeping with all the arguments about how important breakfast is, I do find myself very limited with this type of schedule. For the last two months I've been eating the same thing for breakfast every weekday morning. 

A cup of yogurt with some chia seeds mixed in and a banana. Its a great option but I am growing tired of it and it was time to start looking for other options. 

Well, I found one!! Steel Cut Oats. These are not new by any means, just new to me. They sort of look like chopped up rice in size/shape and they need significantly more cooking (and digesting) time than the usual rolled oats that we all know so well. 

You can prepare them on these stove. They take about 30 minutes to simmer, but I much preferred throwing everything into my slow cooker and letting it do all the work. 

Baked Apples and Cinnamon has got to be one of my top favourite combinations and flavours so that was the inspiration for this version of overnight oats. I have a few other combinations I am planning to try next. The texture of these oats is similar to a rice pudding and the oats themselves have this very interesting nutty flavour. Once prepared feel free to top with more sugar, nuts, maple syrup, fruit...the possibilities are endless. 

INGREDIENTS

2 baking apples (I used Fuji because they are sweet)
1 1/2 cups milk 
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup steel cut oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt


DIRECTIONS
Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray (this may sound unnecessary but these bad boys will make a mess of your slow cooker if they stick!). Combine all the ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. Serves 5-7.


Here's a picture of everything ready to go in the slow cooker. I chose to peel the apples because i hate chewing the skin, but it could be left on.

A few tips:

• This can be stored in the fridge for about a week or the freezer for even longer. If freezing than just take it out the night before to let it thaw in the fridge. 

• To reheat add a little more milk or water before microwaving. It will harden quite a bit so it will need the liquid to get its creamy texture back

• Know your slow cooker before attempting this as an overnight project. You want the oats to start to brown along the sides of the slow cooker because it creates these yummy caramelized bits of oats and apples. However, once the brown starts to form they can burn very quickly so you might want to make this during the day where you can keep an eye on it for the first time. 

• I portioned the leftovers (there weren't many once the family had a go of it) into individual Tupperwares and will take one to work and reheat it with a little water there. 

NUTRITIONAL INFO
Serving Size: 3/4 cup
Points: 4
Calories: 149
Fat: 3.6g
Carbohydrates: 27.3g
Fiber: 3.9g
Protein: 4.9g

Chicken Taco Chili

Mmmmm! Oh man do I love a good tomato based, slow cooked anything!!

I made this in the slow cooker and it was FANTASTIC. We ate it for dinner two nights in a row and it pained me to pack the rest of it up and freeze it for lunches (but I'll be thankful for that at work).

I haven't used the slow cooker since my Chicken Cacciatore post in February. I still think it isn't the best slow cooker around, and that it runs hotter than the average one. I bought it originally because it was the only 3 qt one around, which is why it runs hotter and I'm not sure why it took me so long to figure out. Since its just me and Clutterbuck we didn't need a massive 7 or 8 qt machine. However, now that I've gotten into the groove I think a larger one would be just fine for leftover lunches. Plus it probably would run at the same heat as the recipes call for.

Anyway, thanks are in order to my dad for turning the slow cooker on at 12pm so it would be perfectly done at 7ish when we were ready to eat after a long day at the office. I used two boneless skinless chicken breasts and shredded them about 30 minutes before I served this up. I also used a can of green chillies which really added a nice flavour and texture.

I really love the sharpness of an old cheddar with a good chili or the nutty flavour of a good Parmesan with a nice white wine....yummy!

The corn was another star ingredient of this dish. I mentioned my love of celery in a previous post and corn has to be right up there with it at the moment. I'm so enjoying fresh (frozen) corn and peas currently.

I will be making this again, and soon. The only thing I will do differently is to cut the onions smaller, they were much too large this time around and disproportionate to the rest of the ingredients.

Chicken Cacciatore....Next

Made it in the slow cooker. It wasn't very good. I took a chance and added curry powder to it....mistake....just ended up making everything taste bitter and way too acidic.

I'll try again in a few months when I have blocked this attempt from memory