Fast and easy beef stew

Thanks again to Better Home and Gardens which I adapted, and given that I'm a real sucker for stews, this is a real hoot! Dead easy and super tasty too!

Ingredients

700g steak, cubed

3 carrots, chopped into small cubes

3 sticks of celery, chopped into small cubes

1 big red onion

500ml beef stock

2 cups red wine (this is really the one that makes all the difference!)

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp english mustard

1 tbsp thyme

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp crushed ginger

Method

1) In a deep pot, quickly brown the steak and set aside.

2) Fry the onions. Once caramelised, add the crushed ginger and garlic and briefly fry. Add the carrots and celery and saute until soft.

3) Deglaze the pot with the cups of red wine. Let it reduce for about 10 minutes. 

4) Pour in the beef stock and bring to a boil.

5) Reintroduce the beef cubes and simmer for 10 minutes.

6) Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.

Thai Fish Soup

From a Better Homes and Garden's recipe, which I adapted slightly. This is a really simple recipe that is ready in 20 minutes. Knowing how much I love soups and Tom Yung Gung, this is a real hoot!

Ingredients

1 litre chicken stock

2 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped

3 lemon grass, tied into a knot

700g of fresh white fish, cut into cubes

1/4 cup fish sauce

Juice of 2 fresh limes

4 cubes of palm sugar (I didn't have that so I used normal sugar)

1 thumb sized galangal or ginger, finely sliced

1 tbsp sambal

1 can of coconut milk

1 punnet of shitake mushrooms, stalks removed (I used button because I couldn't find any shitakes, which have a stronger taste that I don't like anyway)

2 tomatoes, cubed

Method

1) Pour the chicken stock into a pot. Add the fish sauce, lime juice, sambal, kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

2) Add the coconut milk, vegetables and fish and simmer for another 10 minutes.

3) Serve immediately with steamed rice!

Winter salad

I really love assembly dishes - just assemble and go! Maybe that's why I like salads. However to make a really good salad, you need a lot of ingredients to assemble. Not quite so work-free after all! This salad celebrates the best of summer food as it is preserved at the height of their freshness for winter using very traditional methods. I admit my salt-baked roast chicken didn't go so well, which is why I'm not including a separate recipe for that, but this was the method I hit upon to disguise the chicken!

Ingredients (for 1)

1 piece of roast chicken thigh, meat removed from the bone and cubed

2 - 3 pieces of sundried tomato

3 whole sweet spicy pickles, sliced

5 to 6 olives (chose your favourite! I like black ones), sliced

2 tbsp chutney (I used olive and tomato chutney to compliment the other flavours in this recipe)

5 to 6 cos letter leaves, washed and roughly chopped

(other salad leaves optional)

Vinaigrette

2 tbsp oil from the bottle of sundried tomato

1 tbsp vinegar (I like balsamic or red wine vinegar)

1 tsp whole grain mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1) Mix up the vinaigrette.

2) Assemble ingredients, toss in the vinaigrette and voila!