Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff with Pilaff Rice

Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff with Pilaff Rice

Now that we are into March the weather here is quite changeable, not that we can complain really it has been pretty good here for most of the past few weeks. As a cook I’ve been pleased to see colder spells as I can cook hot, long-cooked and deeply savoury dishes to warm, nourish and comfort when it’s cold outside.

I saw Rachel Allen make this dish on TV in January, and it’s taken me a while to get round to it, but I’m glad I did. I had actually been looking at the recipe for it in her third book Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home for a year or so, but as the recipe reads, there is not really that much liquid in it, and we like gravy, so I was torn. Had I not actually seen her make it and seen for myself that there is plenty sauce I’d still be just looking at it.

It is a gorgeous savoury beef stew with the added bonus of mushrooms and a divine sauce, and the rice just compliments it so well. Rachel did her pilaff with kale in it, but I gave that bit a miss and did some other green vegetables on the side. I’m keeping this one up my sleeve for entertaining friends! It’s not cheap to make, but we thought it was worth it once in a while for a lovely treat.

I don’t always brown the meat, just toss it around a bit, and it’s just as good I think. I sometimes also add in a bit more roux depending on who it eating it. I’ve cut both the recipes in half, but double it up again for more people. The beef serves 5-6 and the rice 3-4, but this is what seems to work for us allowing for some seconds. The beef reheats well the next day too.

Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff with Pilaff Rice

From Rachel Allen's Rachel's Favourite Food at Home

Serves 5-6

250g mushrooms, sliced
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1.5 kg stewing beef, cut into 3cm cubes
75ml chicken or beef stock
1½ very large onions, sliced
2 to 3 garlic cloves, crushed
75ml white wine
100ml brandy
165ml single cream
1 ½ tbsp roux, (see below)

1.Preheat the oven to 160C/gas 3.

2. Heat a large frying pan and lightly fry the mushrooms in batches in the olive oil until pale golden in colour. Tip onto a plate and set aside. Brown the meat in the same pan in small batches. When all the meat has browned, pour a small amount of the stock into the frying pan and bring to the boil to deglaze the pan and conserve the flavour.

3. Put a large flameproof casserole on the hob over a medium heat and pour the stock from the frying pan into it. Add the mushrooms, meat, sliced onions, garlic, wine, stock and brandy. Cover with the lid, transfer to the oven and cook for about 1-1 ½ hours, or until tender.

4. When the meat is cooked, strain the liquid into a saucepan. Add the cream and boil, uncovered, for a few minutes until it has a good flavour, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

5. With the liquid still boiling, add 2-3 teaspoons of the roux and whisk in until the juices have thickened slightly, adding more roux if necessary. Pour the sauce over the meat, stir and keep the stroganoff warm until you are ready to serve. Cook’s notes: to make a roux, stir equal quantities of butter and plain flour into a paste and cook for a few minutes on the hob. Use hot or cold.

Pilaf Rice
Servings: 3-4
25g butter
1 small onion, chopped
150g basmati rice
375ml chicken or vegetable stock

Method
1. In a large saucepan, melt half the butter, add the chopped onion, put on the lid and cook on a low heat until the onion is soft – about 10 minutes.

2. Add the rice and stir on the heat for about 2 minutes. Add the stock and some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down as low as possible and simmer on top of the stove, or in an oven at 150C/ gas 2, for about 10 minutes, until the rice is just cooked and all the liquid absorbed. Cover and keep warm until needed.

Chewy Seedy Apricot Bars

Chewy Seedy Apricot Bars

These packed with flavour fingers come from Rachel Allen’s Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home. They are chewy, but only a bit. I especially liked the apricots with sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, but it was the brown sugar and peanut butter that was the real underlying flavour booster. I seem to be having a mini obsession with peanuts and peanut butter recently! I was drawn to these as a sort of Summery version of a Phil Vickery recipe that I bake in the Winter, with no peanuts, and dried cranberries instead of the apricots. I made it for a bake sale a couple of years ago and it’s one of the bars friends remember especially and asked for the recipe, perhaps it because it’s achievable if you aren’t a big baker. Whatever, they make it and ask me to make it for them. I’d probably remember chocolate, caramel, lemon or mint. I like to please my nearest and dearest though .

I think I could have cooked these a few minutes longer, because they were very moist, although this possibly made them still lovely and not dry at all even after a few days.

I made these to be a mid afternoon munch-able, and really to stop us eating any non filling junk, and it worked - they keep tummies full for ages!

Chewy Seedy Apricot Bars

Ingredients300g/11oz porridge oats
100g/4oz pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or a mixture of the two
50g/2oz desiccated coconut
50g/2oz plain flour
200g/7oz butter
200g/7oz golden syrup
150g/5oz soft brown sugar
150g/5oz dried apricots, chopped
125g/4½oz crunchy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.

2. Line an 18cm/7inx28cm/11in Swiss roll tin with non-stick baking parchment, leaving a little of the parchment hanging over the edges for easy removal later.

3. Place the oats, seeds, coconut and flour into a large bowl and mix together.

4. Place the butter and golden syrup into a saucepan and cook until the two ingredients have melted and combined. 5. Add the sugar, chopped apricots, peanut butter and vanilla extract to the saucepan and mix well. Then pour the mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix together until the ingredients have become evenly combined.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and press down firmly with a wooden spoon. Transfer the tin to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the mixture has become golden-brown and slightly firm. Remove the mixture from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin.

7. Once the mixture has cooled remove it, and, still in the paper, cut it into 18 bars (or cut them to whatever size you want them to be).

8. Store in an air-tight container for up to one week. These will also freeze well.

Four-Star Chocolate Bread Pudding (and Steak, Salsa, Pasta & Salad)

I’m going to start with the pudding which hails from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours. I only received this book a couple of days ago, but I had to cook something from it NOW!
It is a truly fabulous baking book, the pictures are simply amazing. There are lots of stories, good introductions and fabulous looking recipes. I can see myself cooking from this one for years to come.

Four-Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

Anyhow, I really wanted to try something as soon as possibe, but I’m pretty short on time this weekend, so I picked this pudding four-star no hassle. Dorie said it was best cool, but I served it about 40 minutes out of the oven when it was warm but not roasting hot. I think if I served cold bread pudding my family and friends would think I had lost the plot! We loved it warm with a little cream. It was really no trouble, chop brioche, make a custard mix, soak and bake. The result is good, chocolate to comfort and make the world good once more. There was some leftover, so I tried it myself cold later and it is so very chocolate-y, I might try and serve the leftovers cold tonight and see how it goes! I like it cold as well anyway.

I’m hoping soon to manage to fit in some of the more time consuming recipes like Bbbbbb-Brownies (mint brownies), Applesauce Spice Bars, Snickery Squares, Perfect Party Cake (this one is so pretty), Caramel-Peanut Topped Brownie Cake, Chocolate Armagnac Cake – The cake That Got Me Fired, Chocolate Whisky Cake, My Favourite Pecan Pie, The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart, Banana Cream Pie, Tropical Crumble and Unbelievably Good Chocolate Blueberry Ice cream. This isn’t a conclusive list, as I haven’t finished reading the book yet (it’s a big book!) – so I have a few nights of sweet reading and daydreaming left.

Sicilian Pasta

South American Beefsteak with Chimichurri Salsa with
Avocado, Orange and Watercress Salad

This was what we pre-ceded the pudding with and because I didn’t dish up too much pasta it was a light main course. The beef, salsa and salad all come from Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home by Rachel Allen. The beef was good, marinated in garlic, chilli, orange, lemon, parsley and olive oil. The salsa was also good, the pasta was okay, but I like a Giada (De Laurentiis) version that I’ve tried before of the pasta better. The salad on the other had was magical. I only made enough for two, and I would have liked a lot more than I had. We have not tried the avocado and orange combination before and it’s a match made in heaven, made sing by some lime juice and olive oil. I cut down the amount of watercress a bit (from six handfuls to two) and it worked for me! If you haven’t tried this mix of ingredients give it a go.

Avocado, Orange and Watercress Salad

50ml olive oil
juice of ½ a lime
salt and pepper
1 orange, peeled and chopped
2 avocados, peeled, stoned and roughly chopped
two handfuls watercress sprigs

Mix everything except the watercress, then add it in and gently toss.

Mothering Sunday Cooking

Cherry, Chocolate & Buttermilk Scones

These hail from The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz. I wanted to do something out of the usual for breakfast, and these fitted the bill very nicely! David says that he in turn was given the recipe from Carolyn Weil, and they used to fly out of her ovens when she owned a bakery in Berkley, California

They are a basic scone dough with orange zest, chocolate chips and dried cherries added in before shaping. There was no egg in the dough, just the buttermilk, so if anyone is coming round who is allergic to eggs, these would be a good idea! The method of cutting them is different to any other I have made before, in that you shape the dough into a round, cut it into eight and dip the top of each one into a mixture of sugar and cinnamon before placing on a baking sheet. I re-assembled the slices into a circle, but I don’t suppose it would make much difference if they were just placed on the baking sheet.

Anyhow, they were really bursting with bits and pieces, and they were subtle yet full of flavour at the same time, the chocolate didn’t overwhelm, it just gave a nice back taste. I spread mine with a little butter, and a heavenly breakfast it was.

I received this book this week, and it’s my first book by this author, but I’ve ordered the other two dessert books that he has available and added his soon to be published one on ice creams to my wish list!

Prawn Cocktail Bites

These were a five minutes to make nibble before lunch. I bought the little pastry cases and filled them with prawns mixed with Marie Rose sauce, and a dusting of paprika. I missed the lettuce, and should have placed a very small amount in the base of the cases before the prawns. I like prawn cocktail better, but one of my guests requested prawn cocktail a couple of hours before arriving and this was as near as I could get, with what I had in the house! A full on proper cocktail would have been too much before the chicken and pudding. They were nice but not exceptional, although they all disappeared, so maybe I am just being fussy! They were kind of cute though.

Apricot Chicken

This is my variation on Nick Stellino’s dish from Glorious Italian Cooking. It’s an American cookbook that I bought when on honeymoon a few years ago (in New Zealand), and I like to make it because it brings back memories, and of course it tastes good! It’s really easy to give people for dinner as well because the work is done the day before, bar the actual cooking.

I changed his original recipe by reducing the white wine vinegar from 1 cup to ¼ a cup. The original is good, but a bit too sharp and vinager-y for our taste, but I liked it enough to play around with it a bit.

I really love fruit and meat together, and the apricots take on a really savoury – sweet taste, the olives and capers are lovely and the juices make a thin sauce which tastes good, think vinaigrette, but less oily and with a powerful flavour. I serve it with Parsley Rice (see labels Silver Palate Cookbook), but moulded into a little plastic pot and turned out before serving (this takes about ten seconds to do!). Another thing I like about this dish is the smell it creates in your kitchen when it’s cooking, If I had a house in Italy (and I don’t!) this is how I would like the kitchen to smell.

Apricot Chicken

5 Cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons Oregano
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Black Pepper
¼ cup White Wine Vinegar
½ cup Olive Oil
1 cup Dried Apricots, halved
½ cup Green Stuffed Olives
½ cup capers
3 Bay Leaves
1 cup White Wine
¼ cup Parsley, chopped
Scant ¼ cup Dijon Mustard
2 Red Pepper, chopped
4 to 6 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts
Extra Parsley for sprinkling, chopped

Mix ingredients from garlic to red pepper in a large baking dish (not tin) when mixed well add chicken and make sure it is immersed. Cover and place in fridge overnight.

Next day take out of fridge in time to loose the chill and bake in a 180 oC (350 oF) preheated oven uncovered for about 45 minutes to an hour. Check to make sure chicken is cooked. Take out of oven about 15 mins before serving as sauce tastes better that way. Sprinkle with extra parsley if you like.

Toffee, Apple and Almond Crumble

From Rachel Allen’s Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home.

This is the only part of the cooking today that I had not made before, and it was good. It was peeled and chopped apples cooked in a bit of butter and then some toffee sauce added and cooked a few minutes more before being poured into an oven proof dish and topped with a crumble mixture that had ground almonds and lemon zest added to it. The toffee sauce made a lot, so there was plenty to douse the pudding with before adding a dribble of cream.

I like the idea of toffee sauce with crumble, but I felt the lemon zest in the topping (zest of 2 lemons) was a bit invasive, so I’d leave that bit out next time. Though, apples, toffee, crumble and cream where can you go wrong really!

Vanilla Melting Moments

From Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home, by Rachel Allen.

These are such crumbly, sweet, comforting, cute, and of course vanilla and melting biscuits. I used to like them when I was little, either as a single biscuit with pink or blue icing on top or sandwiched as here with a butter cream icing. I used to make them a lot when I was a teenager and then they must have fallen out of the cooking habit, replaced with the pursuit of caramel and chocolate. I have ordered them with coffee when out, but these are not a biscuit that fairs well in tea rooms or coffee shops, well not any I’ve found anyway!

Last year before Christmas I was watching Rachel Allen on her TV series of the same name and she made these. It was like a light bulb lighting up a food memory and I thought ‘I’ve got to make them NOW’. So I did and they disappeared so quickly I had to make more. So last night the urge came again, and here they are. I hope that my little girl will grow up with the same fond memories that I have of these delicious, often forgotten, gorgeous vanilla biscuits.

Vanilla Melting Moments

Biscuits:
175g self raising flour
125g cornflour
50g icing sugar
225g butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Butter Cream:
50g butter, softened
125g icing sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 160 C/ (325 F) Gas mark 3. Place the flour, cornflour and icing sugar in a food processor and whizz briefly to mix. Add the butter and vanilla and whizz until it comes together (a minute or two, I do it slowly). Roll into 40 small balls the size of a large marble. Place trays on (no need to grease or line) and flatten down a bit with a fork. Bake for 10-15 minutes until still very pale in colour but, slightly firm. Remove carefully and cool on a wire rack.

Keep the same bowl in the processor and whizz the ingredients for the butter cream until they come together. Sandwich the biscuits with the butter cream. Makes 20.