Traditional Irish Stew

Ok, first of all: “Irish Stew”, in the traditional sense, is never made with beef and it does not involve Guinness! (See here for a delicious Beef & Guinness Stew.) Traditional Irish Stew is the most simple of dishes, consisting of lamb, vegetables, stock and little more. It’s a perfect example of how good quality ingredients can taste amazing when cooked very simply. Some purists might baulk at the idea of putting carrots and thyme in an Irish stew but that’s my version. Give it a try.

I roasted a shoulder of lamb recently and got it together to make an excellent stock from the bones, which I then put in the freezer for later use. Lamb stock has quite a strong flavour and is not as “all-purpose” as chicken or beef stock; it is generally used only in lamb dishes. The stock is well worth the effort and you can use it as a base for this stew. If you don’t have any, just use light chicken stock.

Serve with some soda bread on the side.

Ingredients

• 12 small lamb chops ( I used loin chops, you could also use an equivalent amount of neck or gigot chops)
• 10 medium sized potatoes, halved
• 4 sticks celery, quartered
• 4 large carrots, washed but unpeeled and quartered
• 1 litre lamb or chicken stock
• 2 tbsp pearl barley
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
• salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Trim some of the excess fat from the chops. Melt the fat in a large cast-iron casserole and add the chops. Fry until golden and reserve. Por the fat out of the casserole and de-glaze with some of the stock.
2. Place all of the ingredients in the casserole, then top up with water to just cover the meat and veggies. Season with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
3. Cover the casserole, bring to a gentle simmer and leave for 1½ – 2 hours. Check the seasoning and add some chopped fresh parsley.

Serves 4.

Leftovers

• If treated right, leftovers can be more impressive than the original meal. To the leftovers of this stew I added 500ml of hot vegetable stock and whizzed with a stick blender. I added some frozen peas, broad beans and some chopped flat-leaf parsley. The results were superb.

Traditional Beef and Guinness Stew

This dish is great for Sunday lunch, you have to try it. I use a full litre of stout and gently simmer on the hob for around two and a half hours. The sauce reduces and meat becomes really tender. No stock cubes needed here! Eat with plenty of floury spuds, a cut of bread, or a pint of the black stuff.

Ingredients

• 125g streaky bacon, cubed
• 1kg stewing beef (such as round steak), cubed
• 2 tbsp flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
• 1 litre stout
• 2 onions, sliced
• 3 celery sticks, sliced
• 3 large carrots, washed but unpeeled, cut into large chunks
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• 1 tbsp tomato pureé (optional)
• 2 tsp light brown sugar (optional)
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Add a little oil to a frying pan and fry the streaky bacon until golden. Transfer to a large cast-iron casserole or heavy stewpot.
2. Brown the beef. Toss the beef in the seasoned flour. Add a little more oil to the frying pan and fry the beef in batches until caramelised. Make sure you do this  in batches so as not to overload your pan. Transfer the browned beef to the casserole.
3. Add a little more oil and fry the onions until caramelised. Add to the casserole.
4. Pour some stout into the hot frying pan to de-glaze it. As the stout bubbles, scrape at the bottom of the pan to remove any caramelised juices from the bacon and the beef. Add the rest of the stout and de-glazed juices to the casserole.
5. Now, assemble the rest of the dish. To the casserole, add the celery, carrot, tomato pureé, Worcestershire sauce, stock, herbs, salt and the rest of the stout. Season with  plenty of freshly ground pepper. Stir well and place a lid on the casserole but leave a large crack to allow the sauce to reduce. Bring up to a gentle simmer and leave for about 2½ hours (check after 2 hours). Give the casserole a stir every so often to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the casserole. Taste for seasoning and add a little extra salt if you need.

Notes

• You could use shin beef for this. Just trim a little of the fat from the meat and add at least an hour to the cooking time to allow this tough meat to tenderise. The extra fat in the meat will melt out, giving a rich and unctuous sauce.

Serves 4.

New Page for Indian Recipes

I’ve just added a new page which lists all of the Indian dishes on this site. Just click  the “Indian Recipes” button at the top of this screen.

Lamb Saag

This recipe is more or less Rick Stein’s Lamb & Spinach Karahi recipe, but I’ve simplified the recipe slightly and radically adjusted the amount of ghee/oil required. There is absolutely no sense in using 250g pure fat simply to fry half a kilo of onions. It’s crazy!

I’ve also added some dried fenugreek – it gives a great background flavour and is so typical of Indian curries.

As well as having a great flavour, this curry has a vivid green colour and makes a great visual contrast to “red” curries such as Kashmiri Lamb Rogan Josh or Butter Chicken.

Ingredients

• 1.2kg diced lamb
• 2-3 tbsp sunflower/groundnut oil
• 500g onions, chopped (about 3 large onions)
• 12 cloves  garlic, peeled
• 50g root ginger, peeled and chopped roughly (about the size of a golf ball)
• 400g canned tomatoes
• 500ml chicken stock
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp each of the following: red chilli powder, sweet paprika, ground coriander, turmeric, garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
• 300g spinach leaves
• 4 medium-sized green chillies, stalks removed & roughly chopped

Method

1. Place a cast-iron casserole on the hob and heat the oil. Add the onions and cook the onions gently for around 30 minutes until soft and light brown in colour.
2. Blitz the garlic, root ginger, tomatoes and water in a blender until smooth. Remove the browned onions from the casserole using a slotted spoon and add to the blender. Blend again until very smooth.
3. Put the casserole back on the heat. Add the onion/tomato mixture to the casserole, then add the diced lamb, chicken stock and the ground spices. Stir to combine. Transfer to the oven and cook for 2-2½ hours until the meat is very tender.
4. Just before the lamb is finished cooking, make the spinach puree. Put 200g of the spinach leaves in a large saucepan along with a splash of water. Place a lid on the saucepan and cook for about 2 minutes or until the spinach has wilted down. Transfer the spinach to a liquidizer along with another splash of water and blend until smooth. Set aside.
5. Make the green chilli pureé. Blend the green chillies with some water until smooth and add to the curry. Set aside.
6. Check the lamb is cooked to your satisfaction. At this point, you can spoon off the fat which has risen to the top of the sauce (see below). Stir through the spinach puree and the rest of the spinach leaves. Add the green chilli puree and simmer and heat through for another 5 minutes.
7. Stir through the garam masala and fresh coriander. Taste for seasoning, adding plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Serve with rice and naan bread with some cooling yoghurt on the side, if you wish.

Serves 6.

Pomegranate Raita

If you like dipping poppadoms, this makes a nice alternative to mint raita. Remove the seeds from ½ pomegranate by bashing with a wooden spoon. Drain the seeds of juice and set aside. Take a 1½ cups of greek/natural yoghurt and mix in the pomegranate seeds, a handful of chopped fresh coriander, pinch of garam masala and a little sea salt and black pepper. Sprinkle with a few more pomegranate seeds and serve.

Chicken Saag

“The Big 8 – The only curry recipes you’ll ever need!” – Part 7/8

Saag makes a really nice change from tomato-based curries, whether in a restaurant or cooking at home. The word “saag” typically refers to “greens” and not just spinach. In India, it would often comprise a mixture of spinach, mustard greens and fresh fenugreek leaves. Given the lack of availability of mustard greens and fresh fenugreek in Dublin, this interpretation uses spinach along with dried fenugreek (kasoori methi) for flavour.

As with most curry gravies, it is best to make the sauce in advance and allow it to cool. Then we can add our chicken and finish the sauce with the spinach. Simples.

Ingredients

• 6 free-range chicken breast fillets (or use bone-in chicken thighs)
• 2-3 tbsp sunflower/groundnut oil
• 500g onions, chopped (about 3 large onions)
• 10 cloves  garlic, peeled
• 50g root ginger, peeled and chopped roughly (about the size of a golf ball)
• 2 tsp of each of the following: ground cumin, red chilli flakes, ground coriander, garam masala
• 1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 3 cloves
• 3 green cardamoms, lightly crushed
• 4 large tomatoes, chopped
• 500ml chicken stock
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 300g baby spinach leaves (or use regular spinach, stalks removed)
• handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
• natural yoghurt, to serve

Method

1. Combine the ground spices listed above and set aside. This is our “masala”.
2. Place a deep cast-iron casserole (or large saucepan) on the hob and heat the oil. Add the onions and cook them gently for around 30 minutes until soft and light brown in colour.
3. In the meantime, blitz the garlic, root ginger and tomatoes in a blender until smooth. Add a little water to loosen if necessary. Remove the browned onions from the casserole using a slotted spoon and add to the blender. Blend again until very smooth.
4. Put the casserole back on the heat and add the onion/tomato mixture to the casserole. Then add the ground spice masala, chicken stock and salt. Stir to combine and bring up to a gentle simmer. Reduce the heat and simmer very gently for about 45 mins.
5. The sauce is now done. At this point it is best to leave the sauce to cool for a few hours (or preferably overnight). This really develops the flavour of the gravy and allows the spices and onions to mellow. You can skip this step however – it will still taste great.
6. Bring the gravy back up to a gentlest simmer and add the cubed chicken. Cook for about 20 minutes (45 minutes if you’re using chicken thighs. Just remember to verify the chicken is cooked before eating.)
7. Rinse the spinach in cold water and add two thirds of it to another saucepan. Cover with a lid and cook over a high heat for a minute or two until the spinach is wilted. Transfer the spinach to a clean blender and puree.
8. Transfer the puree to the curry and add the rest of the spinach leaves. Cook for a minute and stir through a handful of  chopped fresh coriander. Drizzle over some natural yoghurt before serving. This goes really well with chapattis and plain basmati rice.

Serves 6.

Vegetable Makhanwala

“The Big 8 – The only curry recipes you’ll ever need!” – Part 6/8

A vegetarian curry? You might think I’ve lost my marbles here, but trust me, this is really good.

I used 2 large carrots, 3 small yellow courgette, 200g green beans, 3 large tomatoes. You could also use broccoli, cauliflower, peas, broad beans, spinach, aubergine or okra. Cooked chickpeas would also work very well with this. Dice the vegetables according to cooking time – for example, carrots should be cut smaller than broccoli etc. Use your own judgment here.

Ingredients

• 1-2 tbsp sunflower/groundnut oil
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced
• 2 x 400g canned tomatoes
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp of each the following: ground coriander, garam masala, paprika, turmeric
• 800g fresh vegetables, diced
• 1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
• 2 tsp salt
• black pepper
• 100ml cream
• 50g butter
• 3 tbsp honey

Method

1. Place a large pot or casserole on the hob and heat the oil. Add the onions and cook the onions gently for around 20 minutes until soft and light brown in colour.
2. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry-fry gently for another 5 minutes. Take off the heat.
3. Blitz the garlic, root ginger, tomatoes and water in a blender until smooth. Remove the browned onions, garlic and ginger from the pot using a slotted spoon and put in a blender. Add the canned tomatoes and a splash of water. Blend until smooth.
4. Put the casserole back on the heat. There should be some residual oil, but you can add a little extra. When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and stir fry for a minute to release the flavours.
5. Add the onion/tomato mixture to the casserole, then add the ground spices. Add the salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes to cook out the tomatoes and reduce the sauce slightly. Add the diced vegetables along with the dried fenugreek and cook at a gentle simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the veggies are cooked to your satisfaction.
6. Now reduce the heat and finish the dish by adding the cream, butter and honey. Still well to combine and simmer very gently for a minute before serving. Best served with some chapatti or plain white rice.

Serves 6.

Goan Beef Vindaloo

“The Big 8 – The only curry recipes you’ll ever need!” – Part 5/8

Vindaloo has a pretty bad rep, being the lager louts favourite, but it’s actually a very traditional dish and a great example of early fusion cookery. It originated in Portugal – the Portuguese spice traders brought their traditional pork dish “vin des alhos” to the sub-continent, where the meat is braised in wine and garlic. The Indians substituted wine for wine vinegar and added lots of chilli and a little spice. This traditional recipe has a fantastic flavour.

It might look a little strange to see beef  in a curry as it’s not often seen in Indian restaurants here. But many Indians, such as Parsees, Muslims and Christians regularly eat beef and many traditional recipes exist for beef. Even some Hindus will eat “bull” beef or buffalo, only omitting the cow from their diet for religious reasons. Vindaloo is more commonly prepared with diced pork so you can easily substitute the beef.

Vindaloo should taste sour and pungent from the chillies and red wine vinegar. It’s for serious curry aficionados only, but you could try reducing the amount of chilli if you want a milder dish.

I love that this dish is so vastly different from the Kashmiri Lamb Rogan Josh and South Indian Lamb Curry that I cook. I think the important thing for us Westerners cooking Indian food is to embrace the differences between all of these dishes. It’s all too easy to expect every curry to taste the same, as it does in a bog-standard curry house.

Ingredients

• 1.2kg stewing beef
• 2-3 tbsp sunflower/groundnut oil
• 500g onions, chopped (about 3 large onions)
• 15 cloves garlic, peeled
• 50g root ginger, peeled and chopped roughly (about the size of a golf ball)
• 1 tbsp of each of the following: cumin seeds, poppy seeds, garam masala
• 20 curry leaves (fresh, if possible)
• 5 cloves
• 400g canned tomatoes
• 3 tbsp concentrated tomato pureé
• 500ml chicken stock
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp red chilli flakes
• ½ tbsp each of the following: paprika, turmeric
• 1½ tbsp red wine/cider vinegar
• 1 tsp light muscovado sugar
• handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.
2. Prepare two masalas – one with the ground spices (chilli flakes, garam masala, paprika, turmeric) and one with the whole spices (cumin seeds, cloves, curry leaves, poppy seeds). Set aside.
3. Place a deep cast-iron casserole on the hob and heat the oil. Add the onions and cook them gently for around 30 minutes until soft and light brown in colour.
4. In the meantime, blitz the garlic, root ginger, tomatoes and water in a blender until smooth. Remove the browned onions from the casserole using a slotted spoon and add to the blender. Blend again until very smooth.
5. Put the casserole back on the heat. There should be a little residual oil, but you can add a little extra. Add the masala made from whole spices and stir fry for a minute to release the flavours.
6. Add the onion/tomato mixture to the casserole, then add the diced beef and the ground spice masala. Add the chicken stock, salt, vinegar, sugar and tomato pureé, then stir to combine. Cover the casserole and transfer to the oven and cook for about 2-2½ hours until the meat is very tender.
7. At this point, you can spoon off some of the fat which has risen to the top of the sauce, if you wish. This is great with a pilau or plain basmati rice.

Serves 6.

Notes

• Lamb curries are best, in my opinion, because the meat gives a deep flavour to the gravy. Chicken gravies can be good too, but need a little extra help. If you want to make this into a chicken curry, make the sauce as normal and cook in a low oven for 1 hour and turn the oven off. Leave the casserole to cool in the oven overnight. This will really develop the flavour of the gravy. When ready to cook, add cubed chicken or bone-in chicken breasts and cook for about an hour, or until the chicken is well cooked through.
• Restaurant vindaloo invariably contains potato, seemingly caused by some confusion over the fact that potatoes are called “aloo” in Hindi. Potatoes are not found in a traditional vindaloo, but it is not uncommon to find potatoes in other meat curries. If you wish to add some potato to this dish, pre-boil some peeled potatoes in salted water and allow to cool. Fry the potatoes in hot oil with a little salt and a pinch of ground cumin until light golden. Add the potatoes to the curry a few minutes before serving to warm through.

Spuds “á la Robuchon”

Every renowned chef has their signature dish. Gordon Ramsay has his “Ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon” and Heston Bulmenthal his “Bacon & Egg ice-cream with snail porridge”. Funnily, despite Joël Robuchon’s legendary status (he once ran two 3 Michelin star restaurants in Paris; beat that, Gordo…), the dish a lot of people associate him with is his mashed potatoes. This is no ordinary mash – it’s sinfully rich and made with equal parts potato and butter. It sounds very heavy, but served in small quantities is actually quite light because of the way it’s whipped.

I’ve read so much  about this mash on blogs and foodies mags and I finally got to try it last year at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas.  It was wicked.  Coincidentally, I came across a recipe for the mash in one of the books I was reading at the time, “Doing without Delia” by Michael Booth (a very funny read, by the way). I think I’d feel too guilty about preparing food like this in my own kitchen, so in a strange (and somewhat lazy) move, I’m passing on this recipe to you without having tried it myself. I’ll get around to it one day and let you all know…

For this recipe, it’s important to use a potato ricer, a utensil similar to a large garlic press. Only a ricer will give you the smooth result you’re looking for. If you attempt this with a food processor or a regular potato masher, you will overwork the potato and end up with sticky, gluey mash.

Here’s Michael Booth’s recipe:

Ingredients

• 1kg potatoes
• 1kg butter (chilled & unsalted)
• salt
• 100ml whole milk

Method

1. Wash the potatoes and cut into large chunks. Simmer gently in water until potatoes are tender. Add a generous amount of salt half way through cooking.
2. Allow the potatoes to cool a little, then peel. Push the potatoes through a ricer, then through a fine sieve to get a very smooth result.
3. Cut the chilled butter into large chunks. Heat the milk in a large saucepan add the riced potatoes. Stir vigorously to prevent burning. Add each piece of butter separately and wait until the butter has melted before adding another. When all of the butter has been incorporated into the potato, whip the potatoes vigorously with a whisk.
4. You can add a little more butter or milk if the mash dries out slightly before serving.

Further Reading

• Gordon Ramsay’s “Truffle oil pomme purée” – roughly the same idea, but lent some luxury with the addition of a litle truffle oil.
• Cooking For My Wife “Joël Robuchon’s pommes purée” – another food blogger who tasted the famous mash in L’Atelier and was sufficiently impressed to re-create the dish using tips gleaned from eGullet.

The Best Guacamole

I love visiting restaurants when I’m on holiday as they provide great inspiration for kitchen adventures. I was so impressed with the guacamole served at Dos Caminos Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas that I was determined to re-create it when I got home. Handily, they supplied us with the recipe on some souvenir fridge magnets they gave us. However, I’ve toyed with the recipe slightly to include more tomato and fresh coriander.

Unsurprisingly for such a simple dish, the reason this guacamole works is because everything is in correct proportion. Just make sure every ingredient you use is extremely fresh and your guacamole will really sing…

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados, peeled and stoned
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 red jalapeno/serrano chillies, finely chopped
• large handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• sea salt & pepper

Mash the ripe avocados with a fork and gently combine with the rest of the ingredients. Add the lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. You will need plenty of salt to bring out the flavour of the buttery avocados. Serve with some good-quality, plain corn chips. (For goodness sake, don’t allow a “Dorito” to go anywhere near something as good as this…)