Winter grub

Beef ale stew with caramelised onion dumplings

Tanya's thoughts:
I'm determined to find the perfect stew this winter and this one was pretty good actually. Beef, onion, leek, carrot, parsnip, cut up dried prunes (that last one was recommended by my friend Nicki and was a great addition) and thyme cooked in an ale for 3 hours in the oven. The ale was 'Tetley' (no not the tea silly) and  it made the stew smell almost perfume like. It tasted lovely. The dumplings were a nice surprise as seemed quite simple - frying the red onion in groundnut oil until golden and mixing them into the rest of the dumpling ingredients (including mustard powder and chives). The only criticism was Delia (actually this stew was a hybrid between Delia and Jamie recipes) advised after cooking the stew for hours to remove from oven, top with dumplings and then return to oven without the lid - but I found this dried up the stew - big time. Maybe some people like their stews this way? I prefer a nice gravy personally. A lesson for next time.

 
James's thoughts:
"Very sumptuous"

Beef meat does not maketh the meal

Beef Moussaka (Serves 4)

Babbled Intro:
So after being a vegetarian for a few years in my late teens I'm pretty fussy with meat - to James's dismay. But I do like beef mince which means finding new recipes for it. So I found this classic recipe for lamb mince (Unfortunately I don't like lamb) which I thought could be substituted. The recipe was in one of those 'Quick Meals' book but the mince wasn't supposed to have a sauce which I didn't like the sound of. After a quick goggle I found a Antony Worrall Thompson version which I loosely used in combination with the 'Quick Meals' recipe.

Ingredients
1 large onion, finely chopped
500g Beef mince
2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
1/4tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp allspice
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1sp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
175ml red wine
1 aubergine, cut into 1cm slices
salt and freshly ground pepper

For the topping
1 egg
150ml Greek style yoghurt
Grating of parmesan cheese

Method

• Fry the onion with a bit of olive oil and the crushed garlic. (Or use garlic oil which I did). Add the spices and dried oregano and continue to fry for another minute.
  
• Add the mince to the spicey onion mix and fry until lightly brown.
• Add the tinned tomatoes, red wine, bay leaves, fresh thyme and season. Now gently simmer for at least 40 mins (I always cook for an hour)
• During this time I do the classic trick with aubergines, cut them then lie them flat with sprinkle salt and leave to drain the liquid from them. (Many argue this step is not necessary). After blotting them with kitchen roll I fry these slices on both sides in batches.
• I then layer the mince and aubergine in a glass dish similarly to a lasagne. Finishing with aubergine on the top.
  
• Mix the yoghurt with the egg and heavily season. Pour this sauce over the dish. Then grate a nice layer of parmesan cheese over.
  
• Bake in an oven at 200C for 30 mins until golden. Let set for 5 mins before cutting and serving. We had this with dark greens (Broccoli, cabbage and spinach) and garlic bread.
  

My Conclusion/Review
I really like aubergine so any dish with this would probably be a winner for me. However although the mince definitely had an interesting, almost South African taste to it I just don't think this recipe works for beef mince. If anything it just made me think 'I wish I made a really nice beef lasagne instead'. Definitely edible but probably wouldn't make it again.

James's Verdict
"6/10. Probably better with lamb."