Stuffed Red Pepper, with Minced Beef and Chickpeas

 I diced Polish red peppers and cooked them with the leek and the carrots and the chickpeas for about 25 minutes. Then I added the minced beef, and oven roasted the whole assemblage of red pepper and the minced beef for another forty-five minutes under glass at a low to medium heat (stir frequently!). I added half a dozen bay leaves.

Remove the bay leaves as you find them. Serve with a baby leaf salad or Spinach leaves.  

Beef Chilli with baby leeks

Basmati rice cooked slowly in a flat pan with a quarter teaspoonful of turmeric.

The Ground beef was cooked for forty five minutes along with the vegetables, and then water, the vegetable stock, and the paprika was added, and cooked for another hour slowly under glass. Fabulously tender.
 

Minced Beef with Sugar Snap Peas

Ground beef, browned and then simmered for two hours under glass, with herbs and paprika, plus diced onion, served with boiled semiskinned potatoes, and diced and boiled sugar snap peas. 

 

Ras el Hanout Beef and Bean Curry with diced Garlic

Beef and Bean curry with Ras el Hanout seasoning and diced garlic. Based on an earlier meal with well tenderised beef. 

The beef was cooked with diced leek. Served here with additional spring onions, plus Oregano.

 

Minced Beef and Leek, with Grilled Parsnip Chips

The beef was browned for about seventy minutes before water and vegetable stock were added. Plus diced leek. Cooked under glass for another two hours until really tender. 

Half a large parsnip was diced, and then divided into chips. Grilled until browned (watch by eye!), for about twenty-five minutes, after being drizzled in sunflower oil and turned with a wooden spoon to ensure an even coverage. A simple dish, but delicious! 

 

Leek Burgers, with Piccolo Tomatoes and Mayonnaise

I made half a dozen of these leek burgers from scratch, with a slightly different process from before. I added two dessert spoonfuls of spelt flour to a large glass bowl, and then added the 500g of minced beef. I had some diced leek in a pan of boiling water on the stove, with the intention of cooking the leek until soft. 

I mixed the ground beef the drizzle of olive oil, and the spelt flour together thoroughly by hand. Do this for ten minutes, and you will get a good texture, much finer than when you cook mince on the stove. I added the egg and the softened leek (after being allowed to cool) And repeated the kneading process for ten minutes. 

I decanted the mixture into a pastry cutter sitting in a glass roasting tray, and repeated the process, and  ended up with six equal-sized beef patties. No need to shape by hand. 

Cooked at 180 deg C on the middle shelf of the oven for at least twenty-five minutes (check progress by eye always!). When  browned and cooked, remove from the oven, and allow to cool on the hob or on a trivet under cover. 

Served with a couple of dessert spoonfuls of mayonnaise, some halved piccolo tomatoes, all dusted with a large pinch of dried coriander leaf. 

 

Beef Casoulet with Yoghurt and Coriander

Ground (minced) beef, browned for twenty minutes, stirring frequently.

With added diced onion, diced spring onion, yellow pepper, chopped baby plum tomatoes (four), diced mushroom, diced carrot, a crushed clove of garlic, and potato chunks.

Simmered for an hour and a half at a low heat under glass. Add beef stock. Add a quarter teaspoonful of chilli for heat, if desired.

Served with Yoghurt dressed in two pinches of dried coriander.

Ground Beef with Chilli and Peppers

Good to break away from meals accompanied by rice or potatoes - there are so  many alternatives which deliver much less starch.

The ground beef was browned in some sunflower oil for about twenty minutes at a medium heat, stirring frequently, then I added boiling water (150 mls), and allowed the beef to simmer for an hour under glass, at a lower heat.

After that I added julienned white onion, beef stock, diced mushrooms, three green finger chillies, diced carrot, tomato puree (one squirt), and half a standard can of baked beans. Also some Bisto gravy granules, which serve to thicken a dish.

Allowed to simmer at a low heat for another 45 minutes to one hour. After which I added the herbs basil and oregano.

The pepper strips were stir-fried in an omelette pan for fifteen minutes until tender.

Beef Burgers, with Coriander and Potato

The beef burgers were made with 250g of minced beef (5% fat), one and a half white onions, diced, one dessert spoonful of spelt flour, one egg, a shake or two of black pepper, some salt, and a diced handful of fresh coriander.

Mixed together by hand, along with a drizzle of olive oil. Take at least ten minutes over this, which improves the result. Shape into burger-shaped patties, and place in a roasting dish coated with a wipe of olive oil. You should get about four burgers from the ingredients.

Cook for one hour on the middle shelf of the oven at 180 deg C (check progress by eye, and by thermometer).

Serve with boiled potatoes, and a dusting of freshly ground black pepper, plus American mustard. Garnish with sprigs of coriander.

Mince, Potatoes and Green Beans

A delicious variation on this favourite British dish.

Diced leek and carrot were stir-fried slowly for twenty minutes in some sunflower oil. The vegetables were decanted to another pot and boiling water was added to it. Slowly simmered for half an hour.

The ground beef was added to the original saute pan, and browned over twenty minutes (judge progress by eye).

Then the ground beef was decanted to the pot containing the vegetables using a slatted spoon, leaving the surplus beef fat in the saute pan. Stir through thoroughly, and add the vegetable stock, two dashes of dark soy sauce, half a teaspoonful of paprika, and half a dessert spoonful of cornmeal. Stir together. Allow to simmer under glass for forty-five minutes or so, by which time the beef will be beautifully tender.

Serve with boiled potatoes cooked for twenty minutes,  and green beans boiled for seven minutes.

Beef Chilli with Potato and Mange Tout

Beef and Potato Chilli, served with diced mange tout.

Ground beef mince, browned in sunflower oil, for around twenty five minutes. After that, diced carrot and onion were added to the beef, along with a single chopped garlic clove, and some deseeded red chilli.

Cooked for a further twenty minutes under glass, after which about 200 mls of boiling water, along with the beef stock. In addition, I added about half a dessert spoonful of cornmeal, mixed with cold water, and stirred the mixture into the beef.

The potatoes were cooked in a separate small pot for twenty minutes in salted water. After thirteen minutes the diced mange tout was added to the pot, and simmered under glass for another seven minutes. Drain, and serve with the beef chilli.

Ground Beef with Leek and Green Beans

Some excellent 5% fat ground beef (400g) from the local co-op. Browned at a medium heat in some sunflower oil for twenty minutes or so, stirring frequently.

I diced a large leek, after topping and tailing, and then cutting it into four lengthwise. Easy to prepare this while the beef is browning.

Turn up the heat and add the leek,  and stir together with the beef. After five minutes turn the heat down to medium, and stir-fry together for another ten minutes, until the diced leek begins to brown.

Add three quarters of a pint of boiling water, along with the vegetable and beef stock, and one large bay leaf.

Simmer under glass at a low heat for ninety minutes. Add more water if necessary.

Served with green beans boiled in salted water, black pepper, and with a serving of grilled french fries in a home-made spicy salsa.

Beef and Chestnut Mushroom Chilli

Scotch Beef, cooked in its own fat until browned (about twenty minutes at a medium heat), and then drained through a metal sieve into a metal pan.

Once drained, return the mince to the pan, and add the chopped vegetables, the garlic, and about 200g of tomato passata, plus a cupful of water. Simmer under glass for about an hour to tenderise the beef. Stir occasionally. after half an hour, add the beef stock and two pinches of paprika. Add a carefully deseeded Scotch Bonnet chilli, divided into eight pieces, and stir through.

Interestingly, the addition of dried basil noticeably decreases the intensity of the chilli flavour. Serve with basmati or American long grain rice.

Cottage Pie with Mushrooms and Peppers

A bargain tray of ground (minced) beef, 5 per cent fat, encouraged me first to make a beef chilli, and then to make a slightly spicy cottage pie.

The beef was browned for about twenty minutes, with a little sunflower oil, together with white onions. During the last five minutes of this period, I added sliced chestnut mushrooms, and deseeded red and green chillies. After that I added some beef stock, a bay leaf, and some Bisto browning (cornflour), in order to thicken the gravy. That was served with basmati rice.

For the cottage pie, made subsequently, preheat the oven while the semiskinned potatoes are boiling (to 180 deg C or thereabouts). Mash the potatoes in a glass bowl. Add two dessert spoonfuls of Greek style yoghurt and blend together. Add a little white pepper. Spoon the mash over the ground beef base, and texture with a fork.

Cook for an hour at least in the middle of the oven, checking during the last half hour that the potato topping is not overbrowning.

Ground Beef with Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Stir-fry chunks of carrot, diced mushroom, green beans, and onion in olive oil in a large saute pan, until tender (about fifteen or twenty minutes). Add 450g of ground beef to another saute pan and cook at a medium heat. After the beef has begun to brown, stir the beef and the vegetables together, and cook for another twenty to twenty-five minutes at a moderately high heat, stirring every minute or so.

Add the bay leaves (I added two), the beef stock, the paprika and the gravy granules. Add black pepper, a diced half of a green pepper,  Stir together. Cook for another hour, stirring every five minutes, before serving.

Cut the Brussels sprouts into six pieces, and steam under glass for about seven minutes. This is a common way to serve sprouts in Italy.