Thursday 3 March 2011

Stewed! recipes to try at home



If I've made you hungry with my review of the delicious Stewed! pots (here), you might like to try these recipes at home. They sound perfect for setting off in the slow cooker so that they're ready and waiting for me when I get home from work. Yum !

*************************************************

Alanʼs turkey, sausage and cannellini bean stew with red wine and cranberry

Stewed! founder Alan says : "I like cold turkey, but a couple of days after Christmas, I'm over it! This recipe is great for finishing off those odds and sods that you might have lurking in the fridge after the 25th. It's a real tasty number, packed full of flavour and perfect bowl food for a cold December night. It's also pretty quick to prepare!"

Serves 4-6

2 tbsp olive oil

6 (about 450g) coarse cut pork sausages, cut in half

2 red onions, finely sliced

1 large sprig of thyme

3 bay leaves
2 portobello mushrooms, cut into large chunks

2 garlic cloves, crushed

300ml red wine

200ml chicken/turkey stock

85g cranberry sauce

250g cooked cannellini beans

400g cooked turkey, torn into bite sized pieces

Salt and black pepper

Chopped flat leaf parsley

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan that has a lid. Now brown the sausage pieces on all sides until golden. This will take about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and put aside, trying to leave any oil in the pan. Now add the sliced onions to the pan along with the thyme and bay leaves. If the pan is very dry, add a little more oil. Cook very gently, with the lid on, for 15 minutes until the onions are soft. Give them a stir from time to time. Next add the mushroom pieces and crushed garlic. Continue to cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes to cook out the raw garlic. Now add the wine and bring to the boil. Allow the mixture to bubble for a couple of minutes to drive off some of the alcohol. Now add the chicken or turkey stock to the pan along with the cranberry sauce, a few pinches of salt and a few grinds of the pepper mill. Return the browned sausages to the pan along with any juices that may have escaped. Cook on a low heat for 15 minutes. Now add the cannellini beans and turkey pieces and continue to cook, very slowly, with the lid on, for another 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and top with some chopped fresh parsley (don't worry, the sauce is meant to be quite liquidy). Serve the stew as it is in bowls with crusty bread or on top of some creamy mashed potato.


*********************************************************

Boston Baked Beans

Serves 4–6

400g dried haricot beans

3 onions, quartered

5 cloves

60g muscovado sugar

50g black treacle

50g ketchup

1 tbsp English mustard (made from powder)

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

800g pork belly, rind removed and cut into 3–4cm cubes

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soak the haricot beans overnight, covered with at least 8cm of water. The next day, preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Fan 150ºC/gas mark 3. Rinse thesoaked beans and put them in a heavy based, ovenproof pan that has a lid. Cover with 5cm of water, bring to simmering point and cook for about 40 minutes until nearly tender. Top up with a little boiling water if it looks too dry (you want the beans to be covered at all times). Stud the onion quarters with the cloves and add these to the pot with the sugar, treacle, ketchup, mustard, vinegar, pork and some grinds of the pepper mill (don’t add salt at this stage as it can toughen the beans). Pop the pan, with the lid on, into the oven for 2 and a half to 3 hours until the beans are creamy and soft and the pork completely tender. You may need to remove the lid for the final 30 minutes to drive off most of the remaining liquid. Give it a taste for saltiness, and season according to your taste buds. Serve with nothing more than some crusty bread and a salad.

*********************************************************

For more of Alan Rosenthalʼs recipes, check out 80 Irresistible Stews and One-Pot Wonders, Ebury Press (£14.99, hardback).

Available from WH Smith, Waterstones and Amazon.com
Other reviews you may be interested in :
 

1 comment:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...