Beef Stew with Suet Dumplings

I grew up eating really amazing beef and lamb stews that my mum used to make.  I have tried many times over the years to make her stew but nothing tastes quite like the stews of my childhood.

I took inspiration for this stew from a Jamie Oliver recipe, so this isn't exactly the same as my mum's (hers doesn't have wine in it) and I changed up Jamie's recipe to include the vegetables we like.  You can make this stew on the stove or in a slow cooker, I usually make stew on the stove but I recently started doing in home daycare again and so I have been using my slow cooker more.

2 lbs stewing steak
1 onion
1/2 butternut squash peeled and diced
4 parsnips
4 small potatoes
4 carrots
1/2 bottle red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 cups beef stock
1 tsp worcester sauce
1 garlic clove
1 tsp rosemary
salt and pepper

Dumplings
4 oz self raising flour
2 oz vegetable suet
3 tbsp water
salt

Place the sliced onion, butternut squash, peeled and quartered potatoes and peeled and sliced carrots into the bottom of the slow cooker, season with salt and pepper.  Add in the tomato paste, minced garlic, rosemary and worcester sauce.

Cube the beef and add it to the slow cooker, season with salt and pepper, pour over the red wine and beef stock.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

To make the dumpling, in a small bowl mix together the flour, suet and salt.  Add the water and mix until the dough is soft and slightly sticky, add more water if it seems too dry.  Divide into 8 balls, and add to the top of the stew, place the lid back on the slow cooker and leave to cook for 20 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Piri Piri chicken

Tuesday: Pepper steak and jasmine rice

Wednesday: Chicken pot pie and salad

Thursday: Beef tamales and red rice

Friday: Zuppa toscana soup
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Frozen Strawberry Dessert

Time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal. This month I was assigned the blog Grandma Loy's Kitchen.  There are so many great recipes on her blog that as usual I got Randal to help make the final decision. I sent him a shortlist including chinese filled buns, baked cream cheese spaghetti and swedish meatballs.  In the end though we both thought that this frozen strawberry dessert looked really good, and was something that was new to us. I did make a few changes, the original recipe used chocolate graham crackers, I didn't have those so I just used the regular graham crackers.  I also added some vanilla to both the cream cheese layer and the whipped cream.

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 brick cream cheese softened
1 cup icing sugar
8 oz cool whip, thawed
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
16 oz fresh strawberries, pureed
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla, divided

Preheat oven to 375.

In a bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, flour and melted butter.  Press into a foil lined 9 x 13 baking pan and bake for 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the cream cheese and icing sugar, beat together.  Add in one teaspoon of vanilla and mix.  Fold in the cool whip.  Spread onto the cooled crust and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Place the strawberries into a blender and puree.  Add in the sweetened condensed milk and blend together.  Whisk the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer until stiff peaks form, add in the one teaspoon of vanilla and fold the cream into the strawberry mixture.  Spread over the cream cheese layer and cover with wax paper, refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Tomato soup and grilled cheese

Tuesday: Beef stew and dumplings

Wednesday: Salsa chicken and rice

Thursday: Chicken tikka, jasmine rice

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Lemon-Raspberry Cake

I made this cake a few weeks ago for my birthday. I made Randal a chocolate truffle cake for his birthday, so I thought why not make Sarabeth's lemon raspberry cake.

I loved making this cake, but then I always enjoy cakes that involve many steps and I finally got the chance to make lemon curd for this cake.  This is such a lovely cake, not too sweet which is great for me, as I really am not a fan of heavy sweet cakes with lots of frosting.

Vanilla Genoise:
5 tbsp unsalted butter
5 large eggs
5 large egg yolks
1 cup superfine sugar
seeds from 1 plumped vanilla bean
1 cup cake flour

Lemon Curd:
4 lemons
10 large egg yolks
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened

Lemon Buttercream:
5 sticks unsalted butter
5 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups superfine sugar
seeds from 1 plumped vanilla bean
1 1/2 tbsp lemon curd

Simple Syrup:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

Two 6 oz containers of fresh raspberries

To make the vanilla genoise, preheat oven to 350. Grease a half sheet pan.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, transfer to a small bowl and let stand for 5 minutes, until tepid.

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Bring a large pan of water to simmer over high heat, reduce heat to low and place the mixer bowl over the water.  Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is about 118 degrees.

Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Add the vanilla and beat on high speed until quadrupled in volume and very pale yellow, will take around 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the mixer. In four equal additions, sift the flour over the egg mixture and use a balloon whisk to fold it in.  transfer a quarter of the batter into a medium bowl and add the butter and fold together with the balloon whisk.  Pour this mixture back into the remaining batter and fold together.

Pour the batter into the half sheet pan and smooth it evenly with an offset spatula. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

---------------------

To make the lemon curd, zest the lemons, set aside the zest then cut the lemons in half and juice them.  There should be around 2/3 cup of lemon juice.

In a large heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest.  Place over a saucepan of simmering water, cook the curd and stir often until it thickens and reaches 185 degrees, will take about 10 minutes.

Strain the mixture through a sieve into a medium bowl.  Gradually whisk in the butter a tablespoon at a time.  Press a piece of cling film directly over the curd, pierce a few holes in it to allow steam to escape and leave to cool.  Once the curd has cooled transfer it to a covered container and refrigerate.

---------------------

To make the simple syrup, place the water and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, let boil for a couple of minutes then turn off the heat and leave to cool.

---------------------

To make the buttercream, add one inch of water to a saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Add the egg whites and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer and place over the simmering water.  Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches around 160 degrees, should take about 5 minutes. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on high speed until the meringue is cool, could take up to 10 minutes.

With the mixer on medium speed, beat in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all the butter has been mixed in, add the vanilla and the lemon curd and beat for another minute.

---------------------

To assemble the cake, split each raspberry in half and place on a paper towel lined sheet pan.

Using an 8 by 3 inch entremet ring, cut two rounds from opposite corners of the genoise. Cut out two half rounds from the remaining cake. 

Insert an 8 inch cardboard round into an 8 by 3 inch entremet ring.  Place a whole cake round into the ring and brush with 1/4 cup of the simple syrup. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the circumference of the cake.  Spread 1/2 cup of the lemon curd up to the ring of buttercream and layer half of the raspberries cut side down on the lemon curd.  Top with the two half rounds of cake, using the scraps of cake left for filling any gaps and repeat with the simple syrup, piped buttercream, lemon curd and raspberries.  Place the final cake layer and brush with the remaining syrup.  Place one cup of buttercream onto the cake and using a large offset spatula spread so that it is even with the top of the ring.  Carefully lift off the metal ring, refrigerate for 1 hour.

Spread a thin layer of buttercream over the cake, refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Apply the final layer of frosting to the cake, top with raspberries and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Linked to:
A Pinch of Joy
Create With Joy 

I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Addicted to Recipes
Inside BruCrew Life
Love Bakes Good Cakes
Nap Time Creations
Our Delightful Home

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Quinoa, black bean and corn tacos for me, regular beef tacos for Randal and spanish rice

Tuesday: Chicken korma, jasmine rice, poppadoms and mango chutney

Wednesday: Nonna's handkerchiefs, salad (still haven't made this)

Thursday: Cherry glazed ribs, corn on the cob, sugar snap peas

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Zucchini Boats

I was under no illusion that Randal would actually eat these, so I planned to make them on a night I was making Randal a dinner that I don't really like. So while Randal enjoyed his roasted Italian sausages and spaghetti, I enjoyed these stuffed zucchini (or courgettes as I call them) boats from Proud Italian Cook.

2 large zucchini
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
1 garlic clove, crushed
12 cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 375. In a small bowl mix together the olive oil, dried herbs and garlic.

Cut the zucchini in half and scoop out the middle, brush with the olive oil and herb mixture. Cut the tomatoes in half and place in the zucchini boats.  Sprinkle with the panko and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and top with the grated cheese, bake for an additional 5 minutes.