Cooking: A week with AH2

Glaucus

Glaucus

Glaucus

Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
Posts
76,637
Well I know some of you wanted some simple delicious dishes.
So I have 5 easy and cheap dishes for you to try.

Pork and apple braise with vegetable hotpot
Beef and veg stew with dumplings
Simple mossaka
BBQ sauce smothered pork chop with potato rosti and corn on the cob.
Turkish beef pilau

Beef and veg stew with dumplings

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
250g Beef Skirt
100g Shallots (10 or so small shallots)
120g Celery (3 sticks)
250g Carrots (3 medium carrots)
300g New potatoes
500g Fennel (1 fennel)
300g Courgettes (2 Courgettes)
250g Chestnut Mushrooms
1 red chilli or some chilli flakes
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley
1 oxo cube in 600ml of water or 600ml of fresh stock
300ml white wine

Dumplings:
100g Self raising flour
50g Mature cheddar (stronger the better)
50g Butter
1 Tablespoon Thyme

Suggested Servings: 4


Method:
1) Add the olive oil to a large sauce pan, cube the beef and add to the pan. Peel and half the shallots and add to the beef. Fry until beef is sealed.
2) cube Thickly dice the carrots, celery and fennel and add to the pan and fry for about 10 mins.
3) add the stock, wine, chilli and a good pinch of pepper and simmer for about 2hours.
4) Add the mushrooms and courgettes.
5) make the dumplings, rub the flour and butter together to form bread crumbs. Mix in the grated cheese, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring together with a little water till it forms a dough.
6) Roll the dough into 8 balls and place in the pan, simmer for about 30minutes.
7) server.















 
I used beef mince in mine as it was far cheaper. But it's usually made with lamb and teh sauce could have done with being reduced more as it's not meant to be so liquid.

Moussaka

Ingredients:
Mince:
500g Lamb mince
1 large onion
1 teaspoon mint
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 can chopped tomatoes
200g cheddar cheese
1 Aubergine


White Sauce:
500ml semi skimmed milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons plain flour

Suggested servings:3


method:

1) dice the onion and fry in a little olive oil until translucent, add the mince and garlic and brown.
2) Add the chopped tomatoes, mint and cinnamon. Simmer for at least 20minutes until reduced to a good consistency.
3) thinly slice the aubergine and brush with the remaining olive oil and grill till golden brown on both sides.
4) In a saucepan make a rough out of the flour and butter and slowly add the milk, letting it thicken before adding more. Once all the milk is in, bring to a gentle boil for 5 minutes.
5) In a pyrex dish, layer 1/2 the mince in the bottom, followed by half the aubergine and finally 1/2 the white sauce. Repeat this process then top with the cheese.
6) Place in the oven at 160 for 45-60minutes. Until golden-dark brown.









 
Greenlizard0 said:
Damn, that's all you need to make dumplings? I may have to do something at some point....
Click to expand...

There's a few way to make dumplings, but yes it's as easy as that.
Another way is equal amounts of suet and flour + what ever flavourings you want. Brought together with a little water.
 
Not bad :)

I made a stew last week, I left out the wine as I find it too sweet even with dry. I thought about using fennel too but that seemed a bit too strong a flavour, I prefer it in lasagne anyway.

I'd recommend the Knor touch taste stock (bottle) rather than the oxo, it tastes meatier and not like an oxo cube. I use stewing steak and cook for about 4 hours though so it might not work as well in such a short time.

Gone are the days you have to salt aubergines eh? I remember them tasting very bitter if you didn't. The wonders of modern farming :)

Edit: a quick shortcut tip for the white sauce, put the milk and flour in a saucepan and whisk it til it's mixed then add the butter before putting it onto the heat, you don't need to mess around adding the milk then, just stir it til it thickens :)
 
Last edited:
Good thing with stew is the long cooking time mellows flavours out.

yeah no need to salt or peel them and hasn't been for years. Although people still do.
 
This is the one I've been waiting for all week. not the healthiest dish. But omg so so tasty.
On another note I don't think I will ever buy pork chops again. These spare rib chops are so tasty and have lots of meet, as they don't have the large edge of fat.

BBQ sauce smothered pork chop with potato rosti and corn on the cob.
Ingredients:
4 Pork chops
8 corn on he cob
5 Tablespoons butter 1 1/2 for the corn on the cob. The rest for the rostis.
1 medium onion
1 can of chopped tomatoes
4 tablespoons dark brown Sugar
4 tablespoons vinegar ( I used red wine vinegar, but any will do)
4 tablespoons Soy sauce
4 tablespoons Ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcester sauce
1 Tablespoon mushroom sauce (optional)

Suggested Servings: 4


As I have used spare rib chops, they need to be slow cooked, so I popped it into a roasting tray filled with water and sealed with tin foil and placed in an oven at 160 for 2hours.

1) Speratly place the corn on the cob in foil, with a little butter and some salt. seal up and place in the oven at 160 for 1hour.
2) Finley chop the onion and place in a pan with the olive oil. And fry till golden. Then add teh tomatoes, soy sauce, ketchup, sugar, vinegar, Worcester sauce and mushroom sauce. Bring to a simmer and allow to reduce for about 40minutes or until thick. Keep checking on it, to insure it does not burn.
3) Take your cooked spare rib chop or uncooked normal chop. Smother in bbq sauce and place in a roasting tin. Add some more bbq sauce on top. Cook at about 160 for about 30 mins or until cooked
4) Grate the potatoes, and strain as much water out as possible. Either place in a tea towel and ring out, or in a sieve and squeeze. Once dry add a little salt and and pepper.
5) In a good none stick frying pan place the rest of the butter and bring up to a medium heat. Add the potato and form patties. Cook for about 8 minutes a side over a medium heat.

















The bbq sauce is the nicest thing in the world.
 
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