Category Archives: Casseroles & Stews

Casserole for Dossy

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Let me introduce you to Dossy. Dossy has been a much-loved member of our family since we adopted her in 1996, when she looked like this:

Mum and Dad live in the country, and Dossy’s always loved the rural life – coming and going as she pleases, and bringing home all sorts of impressive hunting trophies (well, impressive to her, anyway). She’s a haughty old girl – while she’s cuddly and affectionate, you’re somehow left with the feeling that she sees you as a member of her staff, rather than a respected equal.

Sadly, Dossy’s age caught up with her this year, and she had to be put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. We all wanted to end her suffering, but I have to say it was devastating! Pets like Dossy truly become members of the family and it’s very hard to say goodbye, even long after you’ve “grown up” and left home.

It may seem odd to create a dish in honour of a pet, but hey, this is a cooking blog, and anyway, there are weirder things than this on the interweb. And venison was Dossy’s favourite food.

My dad and brother are hunter-gatherer types so we occasionally get treated to wild venison, and Dossy used to go bananas for it. Even if Dossy was fast asleep in another part of the house, she’d know when Mum was cooking it or even defrosting it in the microwave and nearly have her paws up at the microwave door trying to get to it. So Dossy, this one is for you!

Pets aside, this is the tastiest way of cooking venison I’ve come across. The dark beer makes for a bitter, almost chocolate-y casserole, and the venison cooks to a tender, tasty filling. Dumplings make a nice addition, although they’re still new to me (and they make me think of eating chicken and dumplings when she – of she’ll be coming ’round the mountain – comes).

Venison Casserole with Herb & Mustard Dumplings
loosely based on a recipe from Country Living

800g venison, cut into casserole-size pieces
fresh thyme, if you’ve got it
1 bay leaf
500ml dark ale or stout
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp plain flour
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground coriander
250ml beef stock
sprig rosemary
100g  plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
large pinch English mustard powder
pinch salt
1 tsp horseradish cream (or more to your taste)
30g low fat spread
¼-½ cup trim milk

If you’re reading this the day before you want to make this casserole, good news! You can get a head start by marinating your venison in a non-metallic bowl with the thyme, bay leaf and ale in the fridge overnight (or for up to two days).

If you want to eat it tonight, good news! You don’t need the thyme or bay leaf after all.

Whichever way… on the day you want to eat the casserole, start by preheating the oven to 170°(C). If your venison’s been marinating, drain off the marinade, reserving the ale but discarding the herbs. Get a stove-top-proof casserole dish ready.

Pat the meat dry with paper towels, and season well by rubbing with salt and pepper. Heat a dash of oil in the casserole dish and quickly fry the venison in batches to brown it nicely. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat another small dash of oil in the casserole and gently cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes, until softened. Stir in the flour, oregano and coriander, and cook for 1 minute, coating the onion. Gradually add the hot stock and then the ale, ½-1 cup at a time, stirring until it’s thickened before you add the next lot. Do this over med-high heat (not so hot it sizzles and evaporates as soon as you pour it in!). Once all the liquid’s aboard, return the venison to the pan with the rosemary. Season well, cover and bring to the boil. Once it’s at a simmer, move the casserole dish to the preheated oven and cook for 1½ hours.

To make the dumplings, sift the flour, baking powder and mustard powder into a bowl. Add the salt and horseradish cream. Melt the spread and pour this over the top. Mix with a knife, and add just enough milk to make a soft but not-too-sticky dough. You can add more flour if you find you’ve put too much milk in. Using floured hands, shape 10-12 dumplings – I make mine slightly smaller than golf balls. Add these to the casserole, put the lid back on and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes. Take the lid off and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve the casserole with simple steamed veges like carrots and green beans.

Chicken with Dates, Olives & Cinnamon

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Do you come across situations where one day, you’ve never heard of something, and then, nek minnit, it’s everywhere you look – people are talking about it wherever you go; it’s on the radio, your  mum asks you what it is, you feel like the bumpkin at the office when your colleagues discuss it like experts … kind of like when you buy a new car and then you see hundreds of the same make/model around town? The Hunger Games have been like that for me this week.

This recipe was a little like that too. I came across three recipes in three very different magazines within about a week for various braised chicken dishes that included olives. Here’s my version below – I’ve included a cinnamon stick and some lemon. The photos aren’t great, but they weren’t amazing in the magazines either… some things are just hard to photograph!

Braised Chicken with Lemon, Olives and Cinnamon
Serves 2 (would easily double to serve a family)

2x chicken thighs (or as many as you think you’ll eat)
2-3 Tbsp flour
olive oil
½ an onion, finely sliced
1cm piece of fresh ginger, finely grated (or 1 tsp minced ginger)
¼ cup green olives (pitted – or stuffed)
½ tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano (or fresh if you have it)
1 bay leaf
1 lemon, cut in wedges
¼ cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
½ a cinnamon quill (about 3cm)

Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels, and coat lightly in the flour, shaking off any excess. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large frypan or stove-top casserole dish (if you have le creuset, this is it’s time to shine). Brown the chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

Heat another tsp of olive oil. Add the onion and ginger, and cook until softened. Add the olives and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add the paprika, oregano and bay leaf, and allow to sizzle a bit, before adding the lemon. Once everything’s buzzing, add the wine and stir up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Lastly, add the chicken stock and cinnamon quill. Nestle the chicken thighs (and any juices) back in the pan – they shouldn’t be completely submerged, but they should be in contact with lots of the cooking liquid.

Bring to a simmer, and keep it there for about an hour. I kept taking the lid off and putting it back on again, depending how liquid levels were looking – but I think it would be more efficient to say cook with the lid on for 40 minutes, then have a check – and if the chicken’s cooked at that point, take the lid off and let the liquid cook down a bit.

Serve with couscous or roast potatoes, and some steamed greens. Voila!

Food Bloggers Conference & Red, Red, Red Beef

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I spent last Saturday at New Zealand’s first annual food bloggers conference. It was such a great day! It was nice to meet lots of the other food bloggers, and come away with heaps of new ideas and enthusiasm. Other bloggers have done great write-ups (see accounts from Pease Pudding, At Down Under, Alessandra Zecchini, Easy Food Hacks and Toast.

Thanks to Alli of Pease Pudding for putting the day together, and also to the sponsors:

Cook the Books – Kohu Road -  Gü - Teza - I Love Pies - Mad Millie – Pacific Harvest - Whittakers - Kokako - Gravity - Bell Tea - Annies - Photo & Video International - Coopers Creek - Loaf - Cuisine - Hubbards - New Holland Publisher

The conference got me thinking about why I started my blog in the first place. There were a variety of reasons – including to meet new people (after Saturday, tick!), to try new things in the kitchen (tick), and to have a way of sharing favourite recipes (well, obviously, tick). I set out with a plan to focus on tasty, healthy, not-prohibitively-expensive, every day food. Because while I love cooking fancy food and putting dinner party menus together, I take great pleasure in rustling up simple but delicious food on weeknights. I also find that a lot of my friends want to cook this kind of food, but don’t have a lot of recipes to start with.

I’ve posted a few of these kind of recipes on the blog, but not as many as I’d like. The thing is, baking and sweet treats are a lot easier to photograph and blog about! When I’m cooking on a weeknight, we’re hungry and tired from work, and just want to eat, rather than set up a photo shoot while our dinner gets cold! Plus, the natural light’s dim by then, and photographing gets a bit trickier. You get the… picture.

But I’m setting these concerns aside. I’m going to try and focus back on these weeknight meal recipes, and so to start as I mean to go on, here is what we had for dinner tonight! It has red meat, red wine, red curry paste, and red lentils. And tomato paste. Which is also red. Yeah.

Red, Red, Red Beef

600g beef (I used rump steak; chuck or blade would also be good)
cooking oil spray
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 large carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 courgette, sliced
1 cup red wine
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp red curry paste
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups beef stock
1 Tbsp dried rosemary, or a couple of sprigs fresh
1/2 cup red lentils*

*You got me here, I actually meant to use red lentils, but discovered we had run out. Turns out brown lentils work too.

Preheat oven to 170º(C). If you’ve got a casserole dish that works on both stove top and in the oven, use that; if not, use a large frypan. Spray chosen vessel with cooking spray, and place over medium-high heat. Brown beef in two batches, and set aside.

Spray the pan with a little more oil, turn the heat down a little, and cook the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and courgette until softened. Add the red wine and simmer until the liquid reduces – by about a half. Then stir in the flour, curry paste and tomato paste until smooth. Add the beef stock and rosemary, and bring to the boil.

If you’re using a frypan, now is the time to transfer the mixture to an oven-proof casserole dish. Tip: I put my casserole dish in the oven while it preheats, so that you’re not putting your nice hot beef casserole into a cold dish and then waiting for it to heat up.

Place the casserole in the preheated oven and cook for an hour. Then add the lentils, cover again and cook for a further 30 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Season to taste and serve. I had mine plain but would be yummy with mashed potatoes or couscous, and some steamed greens.

Slow Cooked Spicy Lamb with Pearl Barley

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I’m moving on from winter. I’ve seen daffodils and a lamb. I’ve even dried washing outside without needing to put woollen gloves on to hang it out.

So this is the last stew or casserole post for Quite Some Time. It’s a good one to end on. The photos don’t really do it justice, but this casserole was really good. Lamb so tender. Pearl barley so perfect a partner. Flavours so toasty yet fresh due to the lime and coriander.

I adapted this recipe from one in an old Mindfood magazine. I find it’s nicer made in a slow cooker, but you could cook it in the oven if you prefer.

Slow Cooked Spicy Lamb Casserole with Pearl Barley – Serves 2

1 Tbsp olive oil
about 400g diced lamb (e.g. from shoulder chops)
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
½  red capsicum, deseeded and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
½ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tsp garlic flakes
½ tsp ground paprika
½ tsp dried thyme
400g tin chopped tomatoes
¼ cup beef stock
1 Tbsp olive oil, extra
½ cup pearl barley
1½ cups beef stock
1 lime, grated rind and ¼ cup juice
¼ cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
extra coriander, to serve

Spray the slow cooker bowl with non-stick spray, and turn the slow cooker on HIGH to pre-heat. Heat half the oil in a large frypan, and cook half the lamb for 4-5 minutes, or until browned on all sides. Put this in the slow cooker bowl. Heat the remaining oil, brown the remaining lamb and add that to the slow cooker bowl too.


Put the frypan back on a medium heat, and gently cook the onion, capsicum and celery for a few minutes, until the onion softens. Stir in the black pepper, white pepper, salt, garlic flakes, paprika and thyme. Cook for 1 minute or until aromatic. It’s a shame this blog isn’t chronological; if it was I would have added a spoonful of my harissa paste at this point. Anyway, add the tomatoes and stock, bring to the boil and then transfer everything to the slow cooker. Put the lid on and cook for four hours on HIGH, or eight hours on LOW.

About 45 minutes before you want to eat, heat the second measure of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the pearl barley and cook for 2-3 minutes until the barley is coated in oil. Add the second measure of beef stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the barley is tender. Stir through the lime rind and juice, and coriander. Season with salt and pepper and spoon into serving dishes. Top with the lamb casserole and garnish with extra coriander (I may have forgotten to garnish so picture may not reflect instruction!). Voila!

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

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At this time of year, I’m usually over stews and casseroles.

When I first read about “hearty fare”, “winter warmers” and “comfort food” in autumn food magazine editorials, I can’t wait to stock  up on tinned tomatoes and blade steak. But by the end of August, I’m ready to shake the next person that writes about “satisfying and hearty recipes to warm your soul”. Bring on the asparagus and spring salads.

But if there was ever a week for casseroles and stews, this was surely the week. Thick snow falling in Lambton Quay? I never thought I’d see the day.

This is a chicken dish my mum used to make for our family all the time. It’s nothing fancy, but the white wine and honey give the chicken a nice flavour – and the gravy sauce is really yummy over roast potatoes. I really like the frozen vege mix in this recipe (possibly because it’s a childhood favourite!), but you could use other frozen or fresh veges.

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

6-8 chicken pieces (I used one thigh cutlet and 1 drumstick per person)
few Tbsp flour
1½ Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups chicken stock
¼ cup white wine
2 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp chopped Italian parsley
ground black pepper
1½ cups frozen vegetables (I used a pea, carrot and corn mix)

Preheat the oven to 150(c). Pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and coat them lightly in flour. Heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil in a large frypan and cook the chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side, until it’s nice and goldy brown. Pop it in a greased casserole dish and set aside. Heat the remaining oil and cook the onions and garlic for 4-5 minutes, until the onion is soft. Add the onion and garlic to the chicken in the casserole dish.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, mix together the stock, wine, cornflour (mix it to a paste with a bit of cold water first), parsley and pepper, and heat until the mixture thickens. Put the frozen veges in the casserole with the chicken and onions, and pour the sauce over everything. Cover and cook in the oven for about an hour and a half.

I served my casserole with steamed broccoli, roasted agria potatoes, and some maple and pecan roasted yams (yum, right? post to come on them shortly).

Hope everybody’s keeping warm….

Spicy Seafood Gumbo

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I saw a seafood gumbo on the Food In A Minute show a few weeks back and was reminded that it’s not something I’ve ever got around to making. The restaurant I used to waitress in while I was at university had an awesome gumbo on the menu, so I’m not sure why. Anyway here is my take on the dish…

Spicy Seafood Gumbo

for the stock:
trimmings from vegetables
prawn tails
1-2 fish heads
2 cloves garlic, peeled
sprig fresh rosemary
bay leaf
1/2 tsp fennel seeds

for the gumbo:
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 long red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely sliced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 chorizo sausage, sliced
about 5 cups fish stock (see above)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes (I used Mexican flavoured)
seafood – use firm white fish pieces, prawn meat, scallops, mussels, squid -  or buy marinara mix
spring onions and/or Italian parsley to garnish

Stock
Start by chopping up all your gumbo veges – the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and potato. Throw all the peels, ends, leaves and whatever else is left into a big pot as you go. Put the prepared veges away for later. If you’re using prawns in the gumbo, and they’ve still got their tails on, take the tails off now and throw those in the pot too. I also bought a snapper head from the supermarket. It was only about $2.50 but I think it made the stock. So if you’ve got a fish head, pop that in too. Add an extra clove of garlic and whatever herbs you have handy. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for a couple of hours. Strain the stock through a sieve – line it with a tea towel if you’ve used fish heads, to stop any tiny bits getting through – and set aside for use in the gumbo. Once it’s cooled down, skim any fat off the top.

If you can’t be bothered to make the stock … no probs! You could use chicken or vege stock instead.

Gumbo
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or stock pot. Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and potato and cook for 5-10 minutes until the onion and celery have softened. Add the spices and chorizo and cook for a further minute. Add the stock, tomato paste and tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the soup is tasty.

Add any seafood that will be cooked in the soup – so fish, scallops, calamari, prawns, and gently simmer for a few more minutes until the seafood is just cooked. I also used fresh mussels – but steamed them separately and just added them to the soup in the serving bowls.

Serve with crusty garlic bread – I toasted some sourdough and rubbed it with a cut clove of garlic while still hot. Yum!