Beef Bourguignon

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BEEF BOURGUIGON

Beef Bourguigon

I served this stew with mashed potato and stir-fried kale.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 600g beef, cut into chunks
  • 100g bacon, sliced
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 250g mushrooms, cut into quarters
  • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 750ml red wine
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon oregano

METHOD

  1. Heat the oil in a stainless steel frying pan.
  2. Brown the seasoned beef (in batches if necessary), transferring to a plate as you go.
  3. Then fry the bacon, onion and garlic in the same frying pan, adding the thyme and oregano.
  4. Stir in the tomato purée and fry for another minute or so.
  5. Add the beef and any juices back to the pan.
  6. Add some of the red wine and deglaze the pan.
  7. Transfer to a pressure cooker and add the rest of the wine and 100ml of water.
  8. Cover and bring to pressure.
  9. Turn down the heat and cook for one hour.
  10. Leave to cool for 15 minutes or so and then release the pressure.
  11. Serve with mashed potato and some green vegetables.

 

 

Shortbread

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SHORTBREAD

Shortbread

I topped these shortbread biscuits with rhubarb compote (cook rhubarb in a covered saucepan with 2 spoons of sugar and 2 spoons of water on high for 5 minutes, stir and then turn off the heat and leave for another 5 minutes) and some strawberries – the first of the season.

INGREDIENTS

  • 150g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 100g butter from the fridge, cut into cubes
  • 50g caster sugar

METHOD

  1. Heat the oven to 170ºC.
  2. Put all the ingredients into the Magimix and blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  3. Press together to form a ball.
  4. Roll out on a floured surface to 1/2cm.
  5. Use a pastry cutter to cut into circles.
  6. Chill in the freezer for 20 minutes.
  7. Put the rounds onto a baking tray and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

 

Coffee and Walnut Cake in the Pressure Cooker

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I’ve recently been experimenting with cooking cakes in the pressure cooker. As we live off-grid, low-wattage electric ovens are only possible on sunny days and with all the rain we’ve been having over the last few days, this hasn’t been an option. So far, the cakes cooked in a pressure cooker have been a success and they come out cooked and moist.

So far, I have cooked an orange cake, brownies and today I wanted to see what would happen when I baked the walnut and coffee cake that I’d previously made in the mini electric oven.

I used a round 7 inch cake tin and lined it with a silicone BBQ liner that I’d cut out specially. This means that you don’t have to grease or butter the tin before making the cake and means you lift it out easily once it’s cooked so that it can cool.

 

COFFEE AND WALNUT CAKE

Coffee and Walnut Cake

CAKE INGREDIENTS

  • 65g walnut halves, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon coffee
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • a pinch salt
  • 115g butter, softened
  • 115g brown sugar
  • 2 medium eggs

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

  • 2 teaspoons instant coffee
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 12 walnut halves

METHOD

  1. Heat a frying pan and gently roast the chopped walnuts and the walnut halves.
  2. Prepare some strong coffee. You will need 1 tablespoon for the cake. You can also use this to substitute for the boiling water and instant coffee for the icing.
  3. Grease and line the cake tin.
  4. Coarsely grind 30g of the chopped walnuts in a food processor.
  5. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  6. Beat in the eggs.
  7. Gently fold in the ground walnuts, chopped walnuts, flour, baking powder and salt.
  8. Pour the mixture into the cake tin.
  9. Put 2 cups of boiling water in the pressure cooker and place a silicone mat on the bottom.
  10. Gently lower in the cake tin.
  11. Bring to pressure and then turn down the heat and cook for 30 minutes.
  12. Turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes.
  13. Quickly release the pressure.
  14. Remove the tin from the cooker and leave to cool for ten minutes.
  15. Lift out the cake onto a baking rack and leave to cool.
  16. Prepare the topping by mixing 2 tablespoon of boiling water and the icing sugar.
  17. Ice the cake with the topping and decorate with the walnuts halves.

Sausage Pasta

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This is a recipe for sausage pasta.

SAUSAGE PASTA

INGREDIENTS

    • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
    • 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
    • 1 carrot, diced
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 500g pork sausage meat, split into small pieces
    • 1/2 cup of white wine
    • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
    • 1 teaspoon ground fennel
    • a pinch chilli
    • 1 can tomatoes
    • 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
    • pasta
    • parsley
    • Parmesan cheese

METHOD

  1. Heat the olive oil in a stainless steel frying pan.
  2. Gently fry the onion, garlic, carrot and celery until soft, seasoning with salt and pepper.
  3. Transfer the vegetables to a dish.
  4. Fry the sausage pieces until golden brown.
  5. Add the fennel, bay leaf and wine.
  6. Add the vegetables, can of tomatoes and tomato sauce and cook for 15-20 minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, cook the pasta.
  8. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with Parmesan cheese.

Chocolate Brownies in the Pressure Cooker

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Although it was a beautifully sunny day today, the backlog of everyone’s dirty clothes meant that the washing machine had priority over the mini electric oven.

So, this is my latest experiment at cooking cakes in the pressure cooker and I wanted to give brownies a go . This time, I decided to make a chocolate pudding and wanted to try out the idea of one with a sauce. I wasn’t sure what the result would be in the pressure cooker, but it worked out perfectly and was delicious.

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS

    • 85g butter
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
    • 2 tablespoons water
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 2 large eggs
    • 1 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

    METHOD

    1. Line a 7″ cake tin with baking parchment.
    2. Place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan with some boiling water.
    3. Add the butter and melt over the heat.
    4. Stir in the sugar and cooked until melted
    5. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder, water and vanilla until smooth.
    6. Add the eggs and beat well.
    7. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and continue whisking
    8. Fold in the walnut pieces.
    9. Pour the cake mix into the cake tin.
    10. Pour 1 cup of boiling water into the pressure cooker and place a silicone mat on the bottom.
    11. Carefully lower the cake tin into the pressure cooker.
    12. Cover and bring to pressure.
    13. Turn down the heat and cook for 20 minutes.
    14. Turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes.
    15. Quickly release the pressure and leave the tin on a baking rack for another 10 minutes.
    16. Remove the brownies from the pan and leave to cool.
    17. Serve with ice cream or cream.

NOTE: If using a normal oven, cook the brownies at 160ºC (bottom + fan) on a central rack for 20-25 minutes.