Mushroom Stew with Brocolli Spears

 A pretty basic mushroom stew, made with paprika and diced cherry tomatoes. Served with brocolli spears. 

Turkey and Parsnip Stew, with Oven-roasted Chips

Leftover Turkey from a roasted leg joint, stewed in some chicken stock along with diced parsnip and carrot. Cooked for around two hours. The Rosemary and the paprika were added towards the end of the process.

Served with roasted potato chips in olive oil. The potato chips were parboiled for fifteen minutes first. Cook until a little browned. Turn once.
 

Pork and Leek Stew, with Red Peppers

Stir fried diced leek, cooked until it began to brown a little, then boiling water was added. The pot was covered and simmered gently for an hour and a half.  Add two red chillies. The pork stock and herbs were added ten minutes before serving.

The pork loin steak was diced and stir fried in a separate pan until the pieces began to brown. Then the pork pieces were added to the leek sauce and stirred through. The diced red pepper was added after an hour and also stirred through. 

Served with boiled basmati rice. 
 

Chicken and Chorizo Casoulet

Recipe built on what was left of a Chorizo Casoulet. I added extra potatoes and diced onions. Plus diced red pepper. 

I chopped up one chicken breast, and added the pieces to the pan, along with extra water, and chicken stock, and half a garlic clove. Plus a squirt of tomato puree. Cooked for half an hour under glass at a lowish heat. Dressed with dried basil ten minutes before serving. Fabulous dish!

 

Venison Stew, with Root Vegetables

A simple winter stew made with diced deer meat and an assortment of root vegetables (parsnip, carrot, turnip & onion for the stew itself, and served with semi-skinned potatoes). The venison was cooked for at least half an hour until most of the moisture in the meat had evaporated, and browned in the sunflower oil. 

Then decanted into a pot of boiling salted water, and simmered under glass for an hour. 

After that, I added the diced root vegetables to the pot, and cooked them for another forty-five minutes, after which I mashed the vegetables (the venison will survive this!). Simmered again for another quarter hour or so, before serving. 

No added herbs, stock or spices, though rosemary would be an appropriate choice. Cornflower or Bisto could be used if you prefer a thicker gravy. Delicious! Sourced via Sainsbury's. 

 

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.

Kabanos Sausage Stew

Two chopped Kabanos sausages, stir fried in a little sunflower oil, along with diced carrot, diced brocolli stems, a julienned onion, two diced spring onions, half a yellow pepper cut into strips, and potato chunks. Stir fry until the onion begins to brown.

Add boiling water, two squirts of tomato puree, and the ham (or pork) stock. Simmer at a low heat under glass for an hour.

Add the herbs (basil, coriander and tarragon five or ten minutes before serving the dish). Add a quarter teaspoonful of chilli powder if you would like some heat. A little lemon zest can also be added.

Potato Rosti Patties, with Pork Stew

A pork stew, accompanied with potato rosti patties.

The patties were made with potato rosti, one egg, two tablespoonfuls of cornmeal (cornflour will do just as well), and several pinches of the herb sage. I used an ice-cream scoop to shape the patties. Cooked under glass in a little olive oil,  until they were ready (about twelve minutes).

The pork stew was made with chopped selections from a roasted joint of pork. Cooked with tinned tomato, mushrooms, leek,vegetable and pork stock,  and numerous herbs (oregano, tarragon).

Pork stew with Grilled Courgettes (Zucchini).

A fairly uncomplicated meal, consisting of a roast pork stew (pork from the freezer), along with diced fresh spinach, and sliced courgettes grilled in a little sunflower oil for at least 45 minutes, turning occasionally.

The roast pork stew consisted of tomatoes, leek (instead of onion), and some diced white mushrooms. Plus vegetable and pork stock. Cooked for at least an hour.

Not bad. I bought the courgettes mainly because carrots were unaccountably unavailable, after a number of days. But these are the days we live in, and we do the best we can. I got three red peppers on the same supermarket day, which was a plus. I prefer peppers to carrots.

Beef and Chickpea Stew

Made with half a standard tin of corned beef, plus onion and chickpeas and sweetcorn direct from the cob, along with two dessert spoonfuls of tomato puree, plus beef stock.

The chickpeas were softened in water overnight, and then added to a pan of boiling water, along with the sweetcorn and finely diced onion. Cooked for ten minutes, and then I added the corned beef, which had been cut into small chunks. Cooked for another ten to fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

After that I added the tomato puree and the beef stock.

Served with spicy chips, roasted under the grill for fifteen minutes, and turned once. The salsa they were dipped in was made with a little tomato ketchup, olive oil,  coriander and oregano, and black pepper. With a pinch of chilli powder and a dash of Worcester sauce. Plus two finely diced spring onions.

Spicy Mushroom, Chickpea and Sweetcorn Stew

Made with chickpeas, sweetcorn, red pepper, chestnut mushrooms and spring onion. Thickened with half a teaspoonful of arrowroot, flavoured with herbes de Provence and vegetable stock. The sweetcorn came straight from the cob, though tinned sweetcorn will do just as well.

Dried chickpeas were soaked overnight, and then cooked with powdered red chilli and crushed garlic. Rinsed, and then simmered with the sweetcorn, diced red pepper, mushrooms, and chopped spring onion. The vegetable stock and the herbs were added last.

Served with a mixture of Thai black rice, and basmati rice. The black rice was cooked for fifteen minutes, and then drained. Fresh boiling water was added to the pot, and then the basmati. Half a teaspoonful of turmeric was added.  I used an ice-cream scoop to create the rice balls, as they do in Korean restaurants. Wonderful vegetarian dish!

Cajun Maque Choux

This is a variation on a well known Cajun dish from Louisiana, which is essentially a stew made with sweetcorn.

I browned some diced leek in sunflower oil (normally diced onion). I added some pre-soaked chickpeas (not a standard ingredient), cooked earlier in some turmeric and Cajun spices (I used a commercially available Cajun spice powder, which contained garlic, chilli powder, paprika and cumin. But you could easily make this up from your spice cupboard). Stir-fried together for a little time. Then I added boiling water, some powdered ginger, a pinch of cumin seeds, and vegetable stock. and the sweetcorn.

Diced green pepper is usually also an ingredient, but I used diced green beans instead. I also skipped the addition of tomatoes. Finally I added a large pinch of dried coriander, plus another dash of Cajun spices, and stirred them through. Allowed to simmer for about twenty minutes under glass, at a low heat.

Served with basmati rice (or American long grain). The dish was served with a dusting of coriander. Delicious! Can be served with diced chicken.

Chicken Stew with Green Beans

A simple chicken stew, served with fried flat-cut Maris Piper potato and green beans.

The chicken pieces were roasted on julienned Spanish onion for 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 190 deg C. A little water was added to the base of the roasting dish (about 50 mls).

After cooling, the chicken stew was stored overnight in the fridge.

The stew was reheated on the hob the next day, with added water and chicken stock. I added two pinches of Herbs de Provence. Heat for at least six minutes under glass.

The flat cut potato pieces were fried in some sunflower oil in a lidded pan, for ten minutes each side at a low heat. The green beans were boiled in slightly salted water for seven minutes, and then they were drained before serving.

Mushroom and Chorizo Casoulet

Sixteen whole white mushrooms, four chopped chestnut mushrooms, around 200g of sliced chorizo sausage, 100g of chopped green beans, eight chopped spring onions, two shredded salad tomatoes, and half of a roughly cut swede. The chorizo and the swede were cooked in a little bacon fat under glass at a moderate heat for around 15 to 20 minutes. I added six whole garlic cloves which were in a chilli suffused sunflower oil. Then boiling water was added to the pot, along with a couple of squeezes of tomato paste, and two ham stock cubes. The casoulet was allowed to simmer for two hours, at the end of which white pepper and two generous pinches of thyme and rosemary were stirred into the stew. Naturally this dish could be made with potatoes instead of a swede. But I had a swede which needed to be used, so I chose to use the swede. The combo is fine. The other half of the swede will find its way into a soup.

Chickpea Stew

A simple chickpea stew, made with diced fresh coriander, green chilli, and cardamom seed.

Dice a medium-sized red onion, and caramelise it in a pan with sunflower or olive oil. Add batonned carrot, three green finger chillies, and some cubed potato. Stir-fry at a medium heat for fifteen minutes, and then add boiling water.

The chickpeas were soaked overnight. Add to the pan along with tomato puree and the seeds from three crushed cardamom pods. Add some vegetable stock. Simmer under glass for at least half an hour.

Dice a large handful of fresh coriander (including the stems) and add to the pot. Stir through. Cook for another twenty to twenty-five minutes, and then add the other herbs - a generous pinch each of oregano, basil and parsley.

Serve with skinned or semi-skinned potato. Healthy and delicious!

Peppered Beef Stew

Wonderful peppered beef from Aldi is the main ingredient for this dish.

Prepare batonned carrot and julienned white onion, and fry slowly in an omelette pan for about half an hour. Add some chopped baby plum tomato, and cook at a medium heat for another ten to fifteen minutes.

Decant the vegetables into a saucepan of near boiling hot water. Stir thoroughly, and cook for another half an hour under glass at a low heat.

Add the pieces of peppered beef, and the beef stock. Simmer under glass at a low heat for another forty minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the herbes de Provence ten minutes before the dish is ready.

Serve with semiskinned boiled potatoes, cooked with sea salt.

Toulouse Sausage Casoulet

This is a variation on the standard recipe, using plain pork sausages. Toulouse sausage is made with 75 percent pork, and is flavoured with wine, garlic, pepper and salt. All these ingredients are present in this dish.

Made with chopped onion, potato, carrot, tomato, plus haricot beans, tomato puree, pork or ham stock, white or red wine, garlic, and two sachets of Bouquet Garni, which is a mixture of Bay leaf, Parsley, Marjoram, Thyme, and Rosemary.

The sausages were cooked and browned first in a saute pan (in a couple of dessert spoonfuls of goose fat), along with the onion. Then the other vegetables were added, along with the garlic, and the contents were  soused in boiling water and the pork stock. Add a standard glass of wine.  Add pre-cooked haricot beans and tomato puree (other beans can be used in addition).Simmered under glass for at least forty-five minutes.

The sachets of bouquet garni were added last, during the final ten minutes, in order not to destroy the flavour. Serve with black pepper. Garnish the dish with some leaves (spinach in this case).

Roast Pork Stew

A really simple stew made to use up some left over pork in the fridge.

Two slices of roast pork were cut into strips, and cooked in a gravy made with some julienned onion, half a dessert spoonful of onion gravy granules, two pinches of Sage, and some vegetable stock. Cooked for fifteen minutes until the onions were soft.

Served with semi-skinned boiled potato. Simple and delicious.

Pork and Chilli Stew

Excellent pork stew, with carrot, courgette, roast port, spinach, yellow pepper, vegetable stock, tomato puree, turmeric, red chilli, and herbs (basil, oregano).

Because this was made with a diced courgette, I skipped using onions - the stew would thicken with the dissolving of the courgette.

I stir-fried the diced courgette and carrot for twelve minutes or so, before adding the yellow pepper and the deseeded red chilli. Then I added three quarters of a pint of boiling water to the saute pan, and simmered the contents for forty-five minutes.

Then I added the roast pork, the spinach, the vegetable stock, tomato puree, black pepper, and the turmeric, and stirred them together for a minute or so. Cooked for another twenty minutes under glass. The herbs were added ten minutes before the stew was ready to serve.

Serve with potato, flatbread, or with basmati rice!

Chickpea, Carrot and Spinach Stew

Made with dried chickpeas, soaked in cold unsalted water overnight. Stir-fried for a couple of minutes in sunflower oil, along with chopped carrot, courgette (zuchini), a hundred grams of green beans, one deseeded chopped green chilli, and a handful of diced spinach leaves.

Add about a pint of boiling water, add the chicken stock, and simmer under glass for a few minutes.Then add about 300g of tomato passata. Simmer for half an hour to forty-five minutes. Add the herbs of your choice (I used basil and oregano)

Serve with a toasted flatbread (I used a garlic and coriander naan).