Chicken & Vegetable Stew

So this is the official food of the Beast from the East! This chicken stew will warm you from the inside out and considering that temperatures will not rise above freezing for the next couple of days and there is snow falling as I type then I think this is the recipe for you. 

Talk of Status Red warnings and dangerous driving conditions has blanket coverage on the radio and the television, all this before Storm Emma makes her appearance! 

I love this recipe because apart from a bit of time preparing the vegetables it pretty much cooks itself. Want to add a splash of white wine, no problem any wine that's good enough to drink with your meal can be added at the cooking stage and it will give your stew some extra flavour. Your choice of chicken stock is very important because it will impart the most flavour so don't skimp, add a good quality rich in flavour stock.

Succotash Soup (Vegetarian / Vegan)

I'm reading The Great Gatsby at the moment, I'm just at the point where I'm about to find out what it is that Gatsby is up to...where all his wealth comes from, it's very exciting. I've fallen in love with F. Scott Fitzgerald  descriptive writing, I feel like I've become part of the story, imagining myself in a shimmering 1920's dress at one of Gatsby many parties. You become one of the characters drifting among the glamours guests trying to piece together what it is that Gatsby is hiding.
As a result of all this day dreaming I have discovered an old recipe. This healthy soup can be knocked up for a light lunch or snack in no time at all. It is a vegetarian/ vegan dish, but if you prefer to add some cooked chicken or bacon cubes go right ahead. Succotash is a traditional North American Indian dish of sweetcorn and lima beans or other shell beans that is well worth having at your disposal if you get lost in the pages of a good  book!

Recipe adapted from The Vegetarian Kitchen edited by Linda Fraser 

Serves 4

Ingredients
50g Butter or margarine (I used Pure Soya Spread)
1 Large onion, chopped
2 Lg carrots, peeled and cut into short batons
900ml Milk or unsweetened soya milk
1 Vegetable stock cube (the better the quality the better the taste)
2 Medium-sized waxy potatoes, peeled and diced (I used two Rooster potatoes)
1 Thyme sprig
225g Sweetcorn, frozen, canned or fresh
225g Butter beans or broad beans, canned, frozen or fresh
2 tbsp Fresh parsley

Method
Prepare the vegetables before melting the butter or margarine over a low heat in a large saucepan.

Add the onions and carrots to the saucepan and sauté in the butter or margarine over a gentle heat for 3-4 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not coloured.

Don't be tempted to add the potatoes to the saucepan before adding the liquid as the starch will cause them to stick to the bottom of the pot and burn!

Add the milk or unsweetened soya milk, vegetable stock, potatoes, thyme, sweetcorn and the butter beans or broad beans. Turn up the heat slightly but not too much as the milk might split.



I'm beginning to think that my can opener is finally kaput! It has been mangling tins for some time now, this was my fifth (!) attempt at opening the tin of sweetcorn. Finally I managed to manhandle the lid off enough for the sweetcorn to pour out!

I digress..back to the soup. Simmer the soup for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Season to taste and serve in warm bowls, garnished with the fresh parsley.

I like to serve this with brown bread (not traditional I know) or corn bread if you can get it.

Yep that's my reflection in the soup spoon. My camera body is bright red, which casts a soft pink hew on all my macro shots, especially on sunny days! Thank goodness for photo editing software, although I decided to leave this shot as it was :)

Neven Maguire's Roasted Vegetable and Chickpea Salad

This healthy vegetable mix just jumped out of the television at me the other evening, I watched Nevin make it again on the RTE player because it looked so tasty. Now I will make this again in the summer but this time I served it with grilled fish and a poached egg on top, mainly because it's pretty cold out there at the moment and it went down a treat. In the summer I'm looking forward to having it as a warm salad.

Nevin says: The trick to roasting vegetables is not to overcrowd the roasting tin - it should be large enough so that the vegetables can be spread out in a thin layer. Ensure that you turn them every now and then during roasting so that they brown evenly.

Recipe complements of RTE Neven Maguire: Home Chef

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 small butternut squash, peeled, halved and seeds scooped out
1 red pepper, core and seeds removed
1 courgette, topped and tailed
1 fennel bulb, first outer layer removed
1 red onion, cut into thin wedges through the root
3 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
400g (14oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
175g (6oz) feta cheese
25g (1oz) wild rocket

For the Cumin and Lemon Dressing:
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method

Preheat the oven to 220C (425F), Gas mark 7.

Cut the butternut squash, red pepper, courgette and fennel into small chunky pieces and put into a large roasting tin with the red onion, oil and season to taste.

Toss together until evenly combined and then spread out in a single layer and roast for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the asparagus stalks in half cross ways and make the cumin and lemon dressing.

For the Cumin and Lemon Dressing:
Heat a dry frying pan over a high heat, add the cumin seeds and shake them around for a few seconds until lightly toasted. Tip into a pestle and mortar and grind to a powder. Tip into a bowl, add the lemon juice and gradually whisk in the oil. Season to taste, stir in the coriander and set aside.

Add the asparagus to the roasting tin, turn everything over a few times and roast for another 20 minutes until all of the vegetables are just tender and slightly caramelised around the edges.

Shortly before the roasted vegetables are ready, drop the chickpeas into a small pan of boiling salted water and simmer for 3 minutes until heated through. Drain well.

Remove the vegetables from the oven. Quickly whisk the dressing again briefly, then mix into the roasted vegetables with the chickpeas. Season to taste.

Leave to cool a little, then arrange on plates and crumble over the feta cheese. Scatter the rocket leaves on top and serve with some red onion and rosemary focaccia.

 (I served the this with some grilled fresh salmon with a poached egg on top...delicious)

Rachel Allen's Irish Beef Stew

The beautiful aromas that filled the house while this was cooking, was mouthwatering, it drew everyone to the kitchen with enquiring looks!
Rachel Allen was one of the first chef cookbooks that I bought to start me off on my culinary journey, I have always found her recipes uncomplicated and most importantly tested. Untested cook books are a bug bear of mine, because in the past I have paid good money for cookbooks, where the recipes don't work or are written incorrectly, so that you are left with unused ingredients!
This is another fine example of Rachel's expertise's in the kitchen and it is well worth the effort. I, as usual took some shortcuts, I bought lardons and ready chopped vegetables and steak, saves time and effort!

Recipe compliments of BBC Food Website

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1½kg/3lb 5oz Stewing beef, cut into cubes
175g/6oz Streaky bacon
3 tbsp Olive oil
12 Baby onions, peeled
18 Button mushrooms, left whole
3 Carrots, cut into quarters or 12 baby carrots, scrubbed and left whole
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp Chopped thyme
2 tbsp Chopped parsley
10 Cloves of garlic, crushed and grated
425ml/15fl oz Red wine
425ml/15fl oz Chicken or beef stock

For the roux
50g/2oz Butter
50g/1¾oz Flour
Champ, to serve


Method
Brown the beef and bacon in the olive oil in a hot casserole or heavy saucepan.

I use the lid of my casserole dish to rest the beef (saves washing!)

Remove the meat and toss in the onions, mushrooms and carrots, one ingredient at a time, seasoning each time.

Place the beef back in the casserole, along with the herbs and garlic.

Cover with red wine and stock and simmer for one hour (I left it to cook for two hours) or until the meat and vegetables are cooked. To make the roux, in a separate pan melt the butter, add the flour and cook for two minutes.  When the stew is cooked, remove the meat and vegetables. Bring the remaining liquid to the boil and add one tbsp of roux. Whisk the mixture until the roux is broken up and the juices have thickened, allowing to boil. Replace the meat and vegetables, and taste for seasoning. (I sometimes thicken the stew with 1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon of cold water, pour into the stew, stir continually until it has thickened)

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with champ.

Prawn Stir Fry

This is a quick and healthy stir fry that I just love to whip up for my family. I think that prawns are just superb because they are low fat and cook really quickly, however this meal works just as well with chicken or beef strips. The key to an evenly cooked stir fry is to cut everything the same size and then cook the crunchier vegetables first, followed by the quicker to cook vegetables. I would recommend that you cook off the chicken and beef first then add the vegetables.

Tip: If your food is beginning to burn then a couple of tablespoons of water added to the wok will help cool everything down and have all you preperation done beforehand because the whole cooking process will only last about 6-8 minutes, no time for chopping then!

Serves 4

Ingredients
1tbsp Stir fry oil
1 Red pepper,de-seeded and thinly sliced
1 Yellow pepper, de-seeded and thinly sliced
1 Green pepper, de-seeded and thinly sliced
100g Sugarsnap peas, roughly chopped
1 Large Courgette, shredded
100g Button Mushrooms, quartered
220g Uncooked large prawns
3tbsp Light soy sauce
1tbsp Runny honey

Method
Heat a large wok or saute pan over a medium to high heat, add the oil.

Add the peppers and sugarsnap peas, fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring all the time. Add the courgette and the mushrooms and cook for a further 2 minutes, if the vegetables are burning add 2-3 tbsp of water to the wok.

Add the prawns, soy sauce and honey, mix well until fully coated. Cook for a further 4 minutes.

Serve immediately with Egg Fried Rice Anyone Can Make.

Jamie's 30 Minute Meals - Vegetable Rogan Josh Curry

I watched Jamie Oliver make this delicious curry on his television show last week and he made it look very easy and effortless and I have to admit that I was a bit suspicious, it couldn't be that quick. Well it might have taken me slightly longer (about 40 minutes) because I wasn't as familiar as he was with the recipe and I had to keep checking but I was very pleased with the finished meal. It was healthy, sustaining and could easily feed six. Jamie comes across as a happy go lucky type but here is a very knowledgeable and an accomplished chef and in my personal experience I found that his recipes are very reliable and more importantly tested. With the leftover butternut squash I had just enough to make a previous post  Pumpkin Pie with a Twist for dessert!

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
For the curry:
2 onions
1 medium butternut squash
1 small cauliflower
1 fresh red chilli (optional)
4 cloves of garlic
A bunch of fresh coriander
½ a 283g jar of Patak's Rogan Josh paste
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
100g prewashed baby spinach
1 x 500g tub of natural yoghurt

For the rice
1 mug of Basmati rice
A few whole cloves

For seasoning:
Olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper


How to do it:
Get all your ingredients and equipment ready. Fill and boil the kettle. Put a large saucepan on a high heat. 

Curry: Peel and slice the onions and add to the large pan with a splash of water and a few good lugs of olive oil. Carefully cut the butternut squash in half across the middle (for speed I'm only using the seedless neck), wrap up the base and put in the fridge for another day.

Quarter the neck length-ways, then slice it into 1cm chunks – no need to peel them. Add to the pan. Trim the cauliflower and remove the outer leaves. Cut it into bite-sized chunks, and throw them into the pan.

If you want some extra heat, slice up the chilli and add it now. Crush in the unpeeled garlic. Finely chop the coriander (stalks and all). Reserve a few leaves for garnish and add the rest to the pan with a couple of generous splashes of boiled water. Add the Rogan Josh paste and the tin of chickpeas, with their juices. Season and stir well, then put a lid on. Cook hard and fast, stirring occasionally.

Rice: Put the mug of rice into a medium saucepan with a lug of olive oil and a few cloves, then cover with 2 mugs of boiled water (use the same mug you used for the rice).

Add a pinch of salt, then put the lid on and boil on a medium heat for 7 minutes. Fill and reboil the kettle.

Curry: Check and add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry. Stir, then replace the lid. (I covered my frying pan with turkey foil which acted as a lid)

Rice: By now the 7 minutes should be up, so take the rice off the heat and leave it to sit with the lid on for 7 minutes. This will let it steam and will give you beautiful fluffy nutty rice.

Curry: Take the lid off. Do you need to adjust the consistency at this point? If so, you can add a generous splash of boiled water, depending on whether you want it drier or wetter. Or mash up some of the veg for different textures. Taste and add a pinch of salt, if needed, then add the spinach and stir through.

To serve: Tip half the tub of yoghurt into a small bowl. Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil and take to the table. Transfer the rice and curry into large serving bowls. Spoon the remaining yoghurt over the curry, sprinkle with the rest of the coriander leaves and take both bowls to the table.

Ratatouille

This vegetable stew is a handsome accompaniment to baked fish or fried chicken, I baked the fish for 20 minutes in tin foil (alongside the ratatouille) with a squeeze of lemon and a knob of butter. I personally think this is the tastiest way to enjoy aubergine and the whole meal has a really meaty quality to it. If you have any left over it is delicious as a Spanish omelette the next day or on piled up on warm crusty bread.

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Dried parsley
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1 Aubergine, cut into 1cm cubes
1 Courgette, sliced
1 Red pepper, sliced
1 Onion, sliced into rings
3 Garlic gloves, crushed
400ml Passata
250g Cheese, grated

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease a large ovenproof dish with oil. Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan, over a medium heat. Chop the vegetables and grate the cheese. Gently fry the garlic (do not burn the garlic as it will become bitter) until lightly browned, add the aubergine and parsley, fry for 10 minutes. Season. Spread the aubergine mixture evenly over the base of the ovenproof dish, pour a third of the passata over the aubergine. Continue layering in this way until all the vegetables are used, finish with grated cheese. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden.