Beef & Chorizo Casserole

Christmas is coming. Fact. There seem to be a lot of Christmas Grinch's around at the moment & i am avoiding them like the plague - i think people think they are being clever when they moan & belittle Christmas. Put a sock in it & have some Egg Nog. We are getting geared up got our annual Christmas drinks party (makes me sound terribly grown but basically we just get 'pie eyed' as Mrs Rhodes says & eat Sausage Rolls) I've been trawling through recipe books & foody websites to work out what canapes to make & i think i have a rough idea, Devils on Horsebacks will certainly feature. The tree is up, my new canape tin is ordered & The Houseboy is bracing himself for hoovering duties.

So i have firmly waved goodbye to salads & welcomed in hearty winter fare. We had Mr T. Fright & his lovely live in lady Miss Stevenson over for a relaxing Sunday lunch recently for a catch up. Miss Stevenson & i both like a natter so it was no surprise we were still eating cheese & drinking whiskey seven hours after they first arrived. I am huge fan of a Sunday lunch party, there's time in the morning to get organised, time of have a leisurely lunch & finely time to clean up before flopping on the couch. Bingo.

The Houseboy turned the grand old age of twenty nine recently so at his request i baked him a Red Velvet Cake.  I cheated slightly (with his permission) & didn't make a fully original one like in the Hummingbird Cafe cookbook which is truly delicious but a little time consuming so i went with a simpler version from the BBC food website which turned out well. On his 26th birthday i baked a Black Forest Gateau which took me the best part 4 hours & cost a fortune, i was obliviously still trying to impress him at that stage! The worst thing was carrying it across London underground smelling of Chocolate & Kirch. The Houseboy does not like celebrating his birthday. There's no going out, no drinks & no celebrating with friends. But next year is his 30th & he will have no choice. I will just be happy that he's joined me in the thirties group!

Red Velvet Cake

Lots of people go on casserole overload over the winter months which is no bad thing. There are hundreds of variations & it's a good way to use up left overs etc. This is a punchy & filling dish which is great with Mashed Potatoes, saying that everything goes well with Mash. I thought about doing Horseradish Mash but there really is enough flavour in the casserole as it is. 

Ingredients:
Fed five with leftovers. 

• 1.3k of diced beef
• 2 rings of chorizo
• 2 medium sized onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tins of plum tomatoes
• 1/2 bottle of red wine
• 2 tsp of smoked paprika
• 1 tsp of ground ginger
• s&p

Method:

Pop your oven to 175C. Dust the diced beef in seasoned flour shaking off the excess & set aside. Take the chorizo & slice into chunks & gently fry off (without oil) in a hot pan for roughly 5 minutes till they are crispy round the edges. (they will leak quite a bit of oil which you can use to brown the beef) Remove & set aside then crack on with browning off the beef. Do this in batches to maintain a nice high heat in the pan, you may have to add a little oil if the chorizo hasn't leaked a lot.

Now quickly slice the onions & crush the garlic & add to the pan along with the paprika & ground ginger. Saute for 5 minutes & once the onion is nice & soft add back the chorizo & beef. Now add the red wine & tomatoes. Give it a good stir & pop into the oven. Cook for 2 & 1/2 hours or until the beef is tender. If the sauce is a little thin then you can thicken it up using Beurre Manie  which is equal parts of butter & flour rubbed together. Just remove the beef before thickening the sauce as you will need to whisk it in. Goes well with Mash or Rice. Freezes & reheats very well. 

This years tree

Spiced Beef & Prune Casserole with Toasted Pecans

It’s quite scary how the weeks are flying by with the only consolation being is that spring will surely soon be here. I’m pretty excited about all the daffodils & crocuses coming out especially after seeing my first snowdrops last night which always remind me of home, where they grow in the woods. Although, I have to say, one thing London does well is parks. With spring & parks in mind we went for a lovely walk round Hyde Park. We did have the intention of being healthy, but unfortunately on the way we ended up in Café Concerto on High Street Kensington having hot chocolate, scones with cream & chocolate cake...Hmmmmm on reflection i actually fail to see this was unfortunate in any way. Anyhoo it was freezing & it’s a proven fact that you burn more calories when it’s cold outside. We then finished up the week by heading to China Town for dinner with friends where i tried a dish i’ve been meaning to for so long...duck tongue salad. It was delicious. Well maybe not delicious but it really was very nice. The tongues have a piece of cartilage in the middle that you have to nibble round & the texture is a little odd, a bit gristly but quite appealing. The houseboy did not agree with me on this one but really when does he...?

With this weeks recipe there are no nasty surprises, so do not be put off by the idea of prunes, granted they are mostly associated with oldies & failing constitutions, but used in the right context they are delicious. I always serve this casserole with mashed potatoes & green beans, but it would be equally nice with new potatoes & most green veg. Ideally it’s best made the day before, firstly because it will taste so much better & secondly its not the quickest dish to cook-but hugely worth it.

Ingredients:
• 900g good quality strewing beef diced
• 225g onions-thinly sliced
• 2” knob of fresh ginger-grated
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp mace
• 1tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 bottle of red wine
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 450ml beef stock
• olive oil
• 100g pecans (to serve) & 250g prunes which are optional.

Set your oven to 130C. Start by tossing the beef in seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. Heat a frying pan until it’s really hot & sear the meat in small batches (small batches will stop the pan cooling down) sprinkling the spices over as you go. Set the meat aside & allow the pan to cool a little. Take the onions, garlic & ginger, add to pan & gently cook for 5 minutes, add a splash more oil if necessary. Next step is to deglaze the pan with red wine, bring to the boil & reduce to about half. Add the stock along with the soy sauce, then finish off by placing the meat & onion mixture into an oven proof pan/casserole dish. Make sure the lid fits tightly, if not you can add a double layer of wet greaseproof paper to make sure the meat doesn’t dry out. Cook in the oven for 2-3 hours, you want the meat to be tender but not falling apart, as you will most likely be reheating it again. While the casserole is bubbling away, pan fry the pecans in a little oil & paprika. When you serve the dish up, just sprinkle some on top-the textures & flavours work really well together.