The Taste Traveller

easy vegetable and beef stew

Back to Jamie again, this time instead of just referring to his show or a recipe I actually (pretty much) followed a recipe from his Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook. It turned out really well and I'd only make a few more modifications next time.

First of all, it's super easy - great when you're tight on cooking time lIke I often am with my one year old, Scarlet, under foot. Secondly, it's healthy as it is, and you can easily make it even more so by adding more vegetables. Scarlet liked it too - so it's also great baby/family food!

The meat isn't browned prior to being mixed in with the other ingredients here, cutting out a step and cutting down on preparation time. Another bonus, his list of ingredients includes (wait for it) butternut squash. Are you thinking enough with the butternut squash? No problem, use a different squash, or add more carrots - you can tailor this stew easily. I skipped the wine, but certainly that would add a richness to the flavour here. I used vegetable broth - again, you could change things up and use beef broth instead. We don't actually eat a lot of red meat and so I tend to just have chicken or vegetable broth and stock around. I didn't use fresh here - but rather a carton of vegetable broth. 

Jamie's recipe has the garlic added at the end, which is just fine, but I think next time I'll add it in to cook along with everything else. 

Before I get right into the recipe here, one last comment - I thought his addition of fresh lemon zest, from a whole lemon, was brilliant! I hadn't thought of this on my own and it really added a great lift of freshness to the whole finished dish. From now on I will add this to all of my stews at the end. Okay, so here's the recipe in full. 

Serves 4 (generously)

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• a knob of butter
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• a handful of fresh sage leaves
• 1 3/4 lb stewing steak or beef skirt, cut into 2 inch pieces (I estimated here)
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• flour, to dust
• 2 parsnips, peeled and quatered
• 4 carrots, peeled and halved (I sliced mine up a bit more than he suggests)
• 1/2 a butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly diced
• 1 lb of small potatoes (I got a few different kinds of potatoes and roughly chopped them)
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) tomato puree
• 1/2 bottle of red wine (or more stock/broth)
• 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) beef or vegetable stock
• zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
• a handful of rosemary, leaves picked
• 1 clove or garlic, peeled and finely chopped (I added two cloves)

Other suggestions for ingredients:

• Acorn or other type of squash
• yams or sweet potatoes
• turnips
• zucchini
• eggplant

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300⁰ F (150⁰ C) Put a little oil and the butter into an appropriately sized pot or casserole pan. Add your onion and all the sage leaves and fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Toss the meat in a little seasoned flour, then add it to the pan with all the vegetables, the tomato purée, wine and stock, and stir together. Season generously with pepper and a little salt. Bring to a boil, place a lid on top, then transfer to the oven and cook until the meat is tender. This will take 3 to 4 hours. You can check this by seeing if one of the pieces of meat falls apart easily. Once it's all cooked you can turn the oven down and keep it warm until you are ready to serve it. 

When you are ready to serve the stew, mix the lemon zest, chopped rosemary and garlic together and sprinkle over the stew. As I mentioned above, this was really nice to add before serving, but I would also add garlic for the entire cooking process. I added a few extra sprigs of rosemary on top, unchopped. As he suggests, this would be good with warm bread, I think garlic bread would be extra good here - and a glass of red wine would add a nice touch to the taste buds. 

Mmm, what a cozy meal! 

 
 

  

sweet potato and black bean burritos

This is a delicious burrito, one that won't have you missing the meat if you like your chicken burritos. The recipe I have adapted here is from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals . It's such a winner in my books that I've barely made it past this recipe in the book. I keep meaning to try more of the delicious sounding recipes but so often end up back on this page. 

This is healthy of course, but you could certainly add more toppings which could tip the scales in a less healthy direction. Go lean or not, but here's the recipe to get you started. Often I adapt it by just grabbing whatever quantity I have around of the main ingredients - so there may be more or less of the sweet potato or onion for instance. I often blend all of the ingredients, including the onions, with my hand blender - but you could of course just mash the ingredients with a fork, or blend everything but the onions. It all blends wonderfully - into a very smooth consistency. 

Top the burritos with salsa, some chopped cilantro, maybe some plain yoghurt and chopped tomatoes - and you've got a colourful, tasty lunch or dinner. 

Ingredients:

• 5 cups (1250 ml) peeled, cubed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) salt (optional)
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) canola or other vegetable oil
• 3 1/2 cups (875 ml) diced onions
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced, pressed or chopped
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) minced fresh green chili
• 4 teaspoons (20 ml) ground cumin
• 4 teaspoons (20 ml) ground coriander
• 4 1/2 cups (1125 m) cooked black beans (three 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed)
• 2/3 cup (150 ml) lightly packed cilantro leaves
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh lemon juice (try lime juice too)
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt (optional)
• 8 eight-inch flour tortillas (depending on how much you fill them)
• salsa

Method:

Peel and chop or slice the sweet potatoes. Place in the top portion of a double boiler or in a medium saucepan of boiling water. Cover until boiling, then simmer until tender, about ten minutes. Drain and set aside. 

While the sweet potatoes are cooking, warm the oil in a medium sized skillet or saucepan and add the onions, garlic, and chile. Cover and cook on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft. Add the cumin and coriander and cook for about 2 or 3 more minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and set aside. 

In a food processor, or with a hand blender, combine the black beans, cilantro, lemon juice, salt, and cooked sweet potatoes and purée until smooth. Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a large bowl and mix in the cooked onions and spices. I often blend or process these into the mixture as well. 

Lightly oil a large baking dish. Spoon about 2/3 cup (150 ml) to 3/4 cup (180 ml) of the filling in the centre of each tortilla, roll it up, and place it, seam side down, in the baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 30 minutes, until piping hot. 

Serve topped with salsa and any other toppings you like. Add a side salad to your plate for more variety of texture and a larger meal.