A Simple Beef Stew

Once in awhile H & I would go out to have lunch at a restaurant along the beach. Most of the time, the meal is forgettable. Just few weeks ago, we paid $100 usd for a pizza, a burger, 1 margarita, 2 beers and 1 cappuccino. The margarita came un-chilled, at room temperature. I sent it back, asking for ice, it came back with some ice cubes floating inside. I cursed and took a big glug. At least, the taste is right.

So when I realized 1 kg of tenderloin is $46 usd, I know I should tread with caution. No fancy smanchy recipe because the stake is high. So after careful consideration, I decided to make a beef stew. A very simple beef stew.

I was very hesitant at the beginning to use beer. As I tried last time to cook Beer Can Chicken, I didn't fancy the taste that much. But recipe after recipe of Beef Stew, I can't escape from beer as one of the main ingredients. Suffice to say, I'm so glad I didn't run away from it. We had a hearty lunch accompanied by some spring roll and tarte aux chocolat ;)

Original recipe is from Wishful Chef here. I modify as per what I had in my pantry.

A Simple Beef Stew (serve 2)

300 gr tenderloin, cubed

carrots, baby potatoes, celery sticks: diced.

half onion, minced

garlic confit (use fresh garlic if you want)

1 tsp paprika paste, cherry tomatoes, S+P

1.5 cube of beef bouillon & water

1/3 bottle of beer

First, brown the beef with OO in a heavy-bottom pan. If the meat sticked onto the pan, don't worry. Brown all sides, then set aside. 

Your pan will look like this. Do not wash/ rinse it. 

Next, brown the onion. Half way through, add in the garlic confit.

Add back the beef.

Pour in the beer, the bouillon & the water (about 1 glass, for the time being)

Add in some fresh black pepper & the paprika paste.

Cover and let it simmer for half an hour. 

If the stew has started become dry, add in more water.

Add in the rest of the ingredients. 

Repeat till you get the desired thickness of the stew. 

Over small fire, let it cook for another hour or so.

This is how my stew look like after 2 hrs. 

Because I didn't peel my baby potatoes, they retain their shapes. 

We polished the entire pot in one sitting. H had 2 servings :)

Broccoli Soup

H has many strengths, but choosing a broccoli is not one of them. He can spot a good bargain (1 floret for just under 4 usd, as opposed normal price of 10 usd) but seems to always fail choosing the good ones. Or maybe there isn't anything good, hence it's so darn cheap. Hmm..

Anyway, I don't have many ideas of eating broccoli besides broccoli salad, steamed broccoli or stir-fry with garlic. So I welcome the idea of broccoli soup :) Especially when I can use the entire floret while it's still in good condition.

Heat up butter and OO, add in the chopped onion. Stir fry till translucent. Add in a heaping tbsp of flour, mix/ whisk well.

Add in water, little by little while continue whisking. Don't worry about quantity of water, you can always adjust later on. But make sure you have enough to cover 3/4 of your chopped broccoli.

You can always opt for vegetable/ chicken broth, instead of water. You can substitute some water with cream or even milk. But if you use milk, make sure you turn to the lowest heat (you don't want your milk to start breaking). I also added in some mushroom at this stage.

Cover and let the broccoli cook till soft.

Once it's boiled, I start seasoning by adding 1 cube of chicken bouillon, grated cheddar, black pepper, a dash of clove and 2 drops of tabasco. 

Cover and let the cheddar & chicken bouillon mix with the rest of ingredients.

Taste & adjust, add more salt or pepper or more tabasco if needed.

Voila. You have a hearty broccoli soup.
H and I, we had 2 servings each, in another words: we finished the entire pot.
Followed by ginger cookie dessert. Hmm.. life's not too bad ;)

n.b. You can tell that I am not bothered with exact measurement. I am not. I can be anal when I want to (read: most of the time) but I let myself free when I cook. And so should you. 

Trust your taste bud, don't be bogged down with the details or precise measurement.
If you don't have all the ingredients, use what you have.
If we can eat well in Angola, with the wallet in tact, so can you!

Good luck

n.b. 2: You do know that when you bake, you need to follow the recipe to the T, to the exact gram, don't you? Just sayin'..

Moroccan Chickpea Soup

This is amongst many of my one pot wonder, which I shall be remaking any day now. I have been arriving home late, too hungry to fix anything up. H loves anything related to pois chiche (chick peas), except hummus. He's not such a big fan of it.

But this dish? He wanted me to teach ma belle mere this dish. Enough said, no? Original recipe is somewhere in the internet, but I make this often enough to not remember what was inside the original recipe.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup (serves 2 as main dish)

Ingredients:
* Cooked/ boiled chickpeas enough for 2
* 1/2 medium onion, chopped
* 2 sticks of celery, chopped
* 1 small carrot, diced
* 1 large tomatoes, chopped
* 1.5 cup chicken stock
* 1 cup water or more if you want it very soupy
* 3 tsp OO
* 1 tsp salt (add into the pot in batches)
* 1 tsp spring onion (mixed of white & green parts)
* half of a small lime

How to:
Note: If you are using dry chickpeas like I always do, make sure you soak them in water 8 hours, and boil using pressure cooker till soft.

* Heat up medium-sized pot with oil, and brown the onions till soft. Add in the celery and carrots, sprinkle some salt & cover the pot.

* Add in the chickpeas, tomatoes, chicken stock and water. Let it boil and tomatoes soft, before you add the spring onions and the salt & lime. Taste and adjust to your liking. Enjoy!

Note to self: I want to experiment with adding the rind of parmigianno. Nigel Slater said that it can smoothen (and add) some flavours in whatever soup you decide to do.