::at my place today::

at my place today there has been

a trip to the market to stock up on comfort food

the weather has turned quite chilly. there is a definite hint of autumn in the air

that is the perfect reason to cook up a big pot of beef/vegie stew.
when we come in from netball training it will be freezing out and the night will be closing in.
there is nothing better than opening the door to the smell of dinner in the slow cooker.

there has even been time for a few finishing stitches on my pincusion for the swap. here is a little peek. i should be able to unveil tomorrow before  mailing  it away to it's new owner. yipee.

 

if you would like to know what is in our family hotpot.
(vegetarians look away)

700g - 1 kg of diced rump
which i place in a frezer bag of plain flour, pepper,cayene,paprika & salt (to taste) and shake to cover the meat

1 piece of speck finely diced
this gets fried off in a small amount of olive oil & butter then remved from the pan and placed in the slow cooker

1 brown onion finely sliced and a couple of cloves of garlic crushed
these are placed in the frying pan after the speck and are sweated off until lightly caramalised
then removed and added to the slow cooker

small button mushrooms and thickly sliced zucchini
fried off in the same pan then set aside to be added to the slow cooker later as they take less cooking time

add a little more oil and butter to the pan if needed then brown the coated meat in batches
when it is browned off nicely remove from pan and add to cooker
add diced carrots to frying pan just before removing the meat.

stir all of the ingredients (speck, meat, onion, garlic,carrots) in the cooker then add a sauce that you have made in the frying pan.

to make the sauce.
lightly fry off 2 tbs. of tomatoe paste to release the flavour, add a tin of diced tomatoes or some Italian cooking sauce, worcestrshire sauce (a dash) and some stock (chicken or beef-from a pack is fine) let this bubble a bit while you stir it to pick up all of the flavours from the bottem of the pan.

pour the sauce into the cooker, stir to incorporate and then cover and cook for 5-6 hours on an auto setting.

an hour or two before serving add the mushrooms and zucchini.

serve with loads of chopped parsley on a bed of mashed potatoe or parsnip or rice

yummy-i promise

 

Comments

[sue]

The weather has turned chilly here in Melbourne and your stew sounds perfect! I love that photo of the garden, so pretty!