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| Happy stew year! |
It’s January, that means it is stew season! Money tight
after DMXmas? Stew! Resolution to learn to cook? Stew! Need warming up on a
cold night? Stew! Stew! Stew!
Or casserole.
Speaking of money being tight a Le Creuset cast-iron, enamel
coated, 24cm diameter base casserole dish/Dutch oven/crock pot (are these all
the same thing?) costs £130. That’s not cheap. Ok, they last a lifetime, but I don’t
have my lifetime’s crockery allowance to hand right now.
But Ikea have a cast-iron, enamel coated, 24cm diameter
base casserole dish/Dutch oven/crock pot for £24: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70131724/
£24! That is a saving equivalent to a year’s worth of stew ingredients!
Half a kilo of chuck steak costs £5.00 from Waitrose. From
Waitrose! That’s the good stuff, that’s a chunky handful of cow. Chuck steak is
usually diced up and sold as braising steak, but stick it in the pot for three
hours and there is no need to dice it; it falls apart when prodded with a
silicone spatula, a wobbly rubbery spatula! Hoo, boy, that is some tender meat.
And the bone? The meat FALLS OFF! It just falls off the
bone! And all that bony flavour stays in the pot; just pick the bone out with
some soft-tipped tongs (you don’t want to go scraping the enamel having spent
£130/£24 on the pot).
Half a shoulder of lamb is about a fiver as well, buying
diced meat in a pack will typically set you back more than double that of
buying a joint; and the flavour and tenderness are incomparable, incomparable I
say!
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| Lamb stew! |
I am super-excited for stew season, you can make such a
variety and the principle is the same for each one:
Heat a drop of oil in the pot on the hob, brown the meat and
set it aside, fry off some veg in the meat juices, season, add stock and stir,
put the meat back in, put the lid on and transfer to the oven to cook low and
slow. Stew!
Of course the only downside with it being from Ikea is that
as a flat pack pot you have to smelt the iron and cast it yourself. No, of
course not, but I did have to carry it home which damn near slayed me.
Ever wonder how your sweet old granny had the strength to
pick you up by the scruff of the neck when you were being naughty? Even a
medium sized, cast-iron dish weighs about 4 kilos; and that’s without anything
in it.
If you want to make a stew, a cast iron pot is just the
absolute best, you can always fry off in a pan and transfer to a Pyrex or earthenware
dish for the oven stage; but I always felt I was losing some flavour in the
transfer process, like it had somehow escaped from pan to dish. One pot keeps
the flavour in and they are handsome enough to serve straight from the table.
Buy a Le Creuset lid off eBay if you must show off to your friends.
£24? What a crock! Stewpendous! Score: 10 out of 10.
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Bonus content - One stew fits all:
Heat oil and brown the meat
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Fry off the veg
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Season
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Add stock and put in oven.
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Lamb
pot roast
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Brown lamb half shoulder on all sides and set aside.
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Add chopped onions, and carrots and potatoes (or any root vegetable).
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Season and add thyme.
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Add a pint of stock and stir well. Reintroduce the meat (and any
escaped juices), put the lid on and put in a low oven (160/150 fan) for three-four
hours.
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Lamb
curry
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Add two chopped onions – dupiaza means double onions! Put in a good
spoon of madras paste. Add a tin of chick peas and tomatoes.
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Add spices of your choice; paprika, cumin, garam masala, turmeric,
curry powder, whatever!
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Beef
stew
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Brown beef chuck steak or brisket on all sides and set aside.
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Add chopped carrots and swede, I get mine from a bag as swedes are
gigantic.
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Add a tablespoon of corn flour and stir in to thicken. Season and add
rosemary and bay leafs. A glass of red wine, or splash of port if none on the
go, will add depth and de-glaze the base of the pot.
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Chilli
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Add chopped onions, red peppers, chillies and tomatoes. Add a tin of
beans (kidney, black, pinto.)
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Salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, Tabasco maybe some brown sugar
if the tomatoes are too tart (or the chillies too hot!)
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Ragu
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Cut pork ribs so they fit easily into the pan. Brown the rib sections
and remove from pan.
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Add chopped fennel and garlic. Take some sausages out of their skins
and add (or substitute onion for fennel and use fennel sausages – don’t
double up on fennel; the aniseed taste will overpower).
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Add a glass of red wine to de-glaze the base of the pot. Add salt and
pepper, dried basil (fresh will turn to mush but feel free to use). Add a tin
of tomatoes and stir in.
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And these are just the ones I have actually tried. Moroccan
lamb, ham and cider, hunter’s chicken, chorizo and white bean. Once you can
cook one stew you can cook them all! Rabbit and pheasant if you are a Lord or
gamekeeper or something. Go to it, go stew it!
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| Brisket |
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| Pot o chilli |
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| Chilli and rice |
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Leftover stew? Put it is a pasty!
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| OMG!? Portable stew! |
