Winter Warmers: Soups, Stews, Favourite Comfort Foods

garlic croutons....

 

quick winter cook from earlier in the week:

baked sausages with pears
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8-12 good pork sausages (cumberland are nice)
1/3rd pot of orange marmalade
1/2 bottle of apple cider
2 red onions
3 pears (I used beurre bosc but packham would do too)
mustard (wholegrain or dijon would be ok)
4-6 garlic cloves

peel and chop the onions into chunky wedges
wedge up the pears and remove the cores, your choice to peel or not
either slice or smash the garlic cloves

you can cook this in a frypan or bake in a tray, I used the best of both and used a cast iron pot, starting off on the stove and finishing in the oven.
use a vessel that is a bit too small and keeps the ingredients nestled together into a couple of layers, to prevent drying out.

give the sausages a brief fry and remove, nowhere near cooked as yet.
gently start the onion cooking for a couple of minutes and help the wedges break up into leaves.
add the garlic for a few seconds then add the marmalade, cider and mustard before the garlic burns.
stir the sauce to melt the marmalade then return the sausages and the pears.
toss to cover everything in sauce, and arrange into some layers where everything is more or less even.

transfer to the oven and cook for about 20-25 mins at 170-180°science.
gently turn a couple of times during cooking so everything cooks evenly and the top layer does not dry out. add a little more cider if needed to keep the sauce going, you do want it a little wet.


tuscan beans
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1 tin cannellini beans
4-6 garlic cloves
big spring of rosemary
lemon
handful of parsley

strip the rosemary off the stalk but don't chop, just get it down to nice leaves.
slice the garlic cloves.

put a really good slug of olive oil in a saucepan and get it to a medium temperature.
add the rosemary and fry briefly to release some of the fragrant oils, then add the garlic.
stir the garlic for 15-20 seconds to flavour the oil then before it can burn, add the whole can of beans, liquid and oil. bang the lid on immediately until it stops spitting or this will make a mess of your stove top.
reduce heat and cook for about 20 mins, until the sausages are done is a good time. you want it to be blipping along to reduce the liquid, but not boiling. stir regularly to prevent any catching but don't break up the beans.
when you are ready to serve the main, add a good squeeze of lemon juice and gently stir through. once this is done you can season with salt and pepper as you like, but don't do beforehand because the lemon will really move the seasoning around on you.
turn off heat and stir through a big handful of chopped parsely.


I served a big spoonful of beans in a bowl with as many sausages and a spoon of pears and sauce on top as desired.

 

Reheated some of my savoury mince for an easy Sunday dinner tonight, so here's a Results pic:



Served with a big dollop of tomato relish, Italian parsley, buttered and grilled poppy-seed roll. Ultimate comfort food!

 

Not a favourite comfort yet, but getting there!

 

made steak pies yesterday evening as I felt like doing something different for the handbrake.

filling:
600gm steak (pick whatever you like, it's going to cook for long enough to soften gravy beef or even chuck)
500ml beef stock (I used some home made stuff done the day before from stock bones and vegetable peelings)
2 big bay leaves
good quality gravy granules

cut the steak down to about 1cm dice or smaller and stick in a medium-small saucepan with the stock and bay leaves. you want a deepish pot rather than a wide one.
bring to the boil then partially cover and turn down to just above simmer for 2 hours or until the beef is breaking down. don't let too much liquid evaporate.
I suggest avoiding seasoning too much as the flavours will intensify, but if you like pepper bung some in.
ladle out the remaining liquid until it is level with the meat and reserve.
again bring to a boil and add 2 tbsp gravy granules, stir through well, then cover and let cool completely. stick the pot in a sink with some cold water if you want to speed this up.

while you are waiting for the filling to cook, make the pastry.

400gm plain flour
150ml water
100gm butter (world's cheapest Woolies cooking butter is fine)
100gm lard (get this in the cold aisle near the butter, and yes you can feel your arteries hardening as you buy it)
1 tbsp salt

put the water on to boil in a small saucepan
bung the flour in a good sized bowl and sprinkle over the flour, you don't need to be precious about sifting it or anything
when the water is boiling melt the butter and lard into it
make a well in the flour and pour in the liquid
stir in with a spoon and go around the edges to pick up all of the dry bits, but try not to mix any more than you need to. you're not trying to activate the gluten, this isn't bread.
tip onto a floured bench and push into a rough log, then divide into 1/3 and 2/3. cling wrap each and stick in the fridge for a couple of hours.

preheat oven to 170 degrees science.
grease 4 10cm pie tins way too much, and when you think they are greased enough, add some more.
divide the large dough lump into 4 and roll out to about 4mm thickness. drape over each tin in turn and gently tuck/push down into the tin. make sure the dough is nice and relaxed and sitting down into the tin fully. trim the edges.
fill each tin with the filling, right up to the top, but not wetting the edges.
beat one egg for wash, or use a little milk if you like.
roll the tops out until they are just big enough to cover fully. egg wash the edges of the cases and drape the lids over. trim then go around and pinch the edges together to form a seal.
poke a couple of steam holes in the lid, egg wash and if your wife insists on helping, add some black sesame seeds or poppy seeds for pretties.
stick in the very bottom of the oven for about 40-45 mins.

when you are ready to serve, return the reserved cooking liquid to a small pan, bring to the boil, and whisk in a slurry of 2tbsp cornflour in a little cold water. bring to the boil to activate the starch then let sit for 5 mins and you are good to go.

I served mine with some mashed spuds and peas.

 

Your egg-wash game is top tier, those came out absolutely perfect mate.
And just the right amount of gravy/filling boil-over to add a bit of flavour to the base of the pastry too, so your fill game is also on point.
I like the look of the black sesame garnish too. Five stars. Will try.

Here's another good pie recipe from a UK-based former pub cook that also uses a super simple hot-water pie crust ("Scotch Pies", basically like your traditional servo meat pie made from beef mince and gravy).
And here is his Steak Pie ("the ultimate pie") recipe.
I still haven't tried making my own pastry from scratch but steak pies/scotch pies seem like a pretty good place to start.

 

good eye. the recipe is based on his with minor tweaks.

the hot water pastry is a lot easier to get right than trying to do a rough puff for the top.

 

tonight's dinner: confused cajun creamy chicken chowder.

one white or brown onion
one carrot
two full sticks of celery
half a dozen cloves of fresh garlic
one ear of fresh corn
one large potato
half a litre of chicken stock
one chicken breast
small pot of cream
fresh parsely (or dried if you CBF)

finely dice the onion, carrot, celery and capsicum
separately cut down the corn and finely slice the garlic
finely dice the potato and keep under water

start by gently poaching the chicken breast in the stock for around 15 mins, turning a few times. it will be nowhere near cooked through yet. remove to a bowl and reserve the poaching stock.
add a large slug of olive oil to the same pot and add the onion, carrot, celery and capsicum. cook slowly for 10 mins until soft, without colour.
add the corn and garlic and stir through well. do not burn the garlic.
add the reseved stock to stop the frying when you think the vegetables need that stopped.
add the potatoes but reserve the water.
add confused cajun seasoning to taste - I used a pinch of paprika, cayenne pepper, oregano and thyme, and a grind of black pepper.
cook for about 15 mins to get all the vegetables nice and soft then give it a few quick blitzes with a stick blender. you want a nice combination of smooth soup and texture.
finely shred up the chicken and add back to the soup.
bring to boil, add the cream to taste (I used about 200ml) then reduce heat to simmer for about 15 minutes further.
now is the time to add salt if you want, as the stock won't be intensifying any further.
finally add a handful of fresh parsley, stir through and serve.

wife approval granted.

 

Name Approval granted also, gave me a lol.
edit: and of course I can't help posting the relevant link.

I did a Confused TexMex Beef'n'Black Bean Chilli in the dutch oven last night. House smelled amazing and it tasted pretty good after a couple of hours of simmering.
Looks like it has congealed quite nicely after the requisite 24-hour rest in the fridge, will make for a tasty lunch tomorrow (and a couple of days in the future, always freezes/reheats pretty well).



cbf posting a recipe tonight, I'll chuck it up over the weekend some time.
I loosely followed this recipe for the spice mix, lots of substitutions e.g. cornflour/cornstarch in place of the masa [maize] flour, used seeded and diced fresh chillies from my little plant plus some dried chilli flakes and cayenne pepper in place of the proper dried/smoked chillies. As well as the apparently unforgivable sin of adding crushed tomatoes and a tin of black beans.
This certainly isn't a proper traditional Texas Chilli according to this author, but I'd like to try my hand at it one day with the proper types of dried chillies and cubed chuck instead of mince etc.

 

Have you done the chilli posted on here? It was very good, I keep meaning to make it again, but most of my cooking is imaginary.

 

No, but I really should! I was going to cook this in the pressure cooker, only to discover that the pressure indicator/valve thing has fallen apart after only two uses.
Time to go and get my eighty bucks back. Bloody annoying, now I have to actually be sure to put that $80 aside towards a better pressure cooker because they're awesome.

Recommendations welcomed.

 

Are you sure it's fallen apart and is not removable for cleaning?

As for recommendations, both my manual pressure cooker (which I don't use) and my new electric one which does everything are Tefal.

How much do you want to spend?

 

Tried reassembling it in a few different way, but she no worky.
And in any case, would I ever trust this Compact-Superheated-Steam-Filled-Bomb in my kitchen after this?
No. No, I would not. Pressure vessels are Not To be Messed With. When they fail in service they tend to fail in a big way and with fairly spectacular results.

I'd like to spend "as little as possible to get something that won't shit the bed after two uses" dollars.
How much was the fancy Tefal one?

 

Do you have a manual? They are meant to come apart for cleaning, the manual should fill you in on how it goes together.

I don't remember, I got it on sale/promo. They are on sale at the moment, just the cooker https://www.tefal-shop.com.au/produ...ulticooker-cy7778?_pos=2&_sid=935456416&_ss=r or the cooker with an "airfry" lid https://www.tefal-shop.com.au/produ...ulticooker-cy7788?_pos=1&_sid=935456416&_ss=r
which is what I've got. Also, when I got it they were throwing in an accessories pack, cake tins and pizza tray and kebab thingies. Basically, you can do just about anything in it.

 

Did you actually look at the photo broc? Does that little collection of assorted bits'n'pieces seriously look like it has "come apart for easy cleaning" to you?
I've been installing/servicing/repairing various kinds of electronic and mechanical equipment for about 15 years. I'm pretty sure it is Offically Tits-Up/Deceased/Pining For the Fjords at this point.

Thanks for the sale link! Two-hunjy to two-fiddy was roughly what I was expecting for a "fancy" one.
I don't need the air-fryer bit because my little air-fryer oven seems to be behaving better than the presure cooker did... for now...
One more item to add to the List of Nice Things To Have after I get the car fixed.

 

I don't know because I don't have it. On mine, it is similar, it's a hole, with a do-dad that comes out of the hole, and a seal that fits on the end of the do-dad and a screw to hold it in there, but when it's in there, it moves about, it's not fixed. The only thing that looks strange in the photo is the middle of the hole, looks like a broken washer across the middle? Dunno.
Myer is doing the tefal thingie for $199

 

I have been extraordinarily happy with my Tefal pressure cooker for many many years (more than a decade at least). And my parents have a model a decade older that's still going strong. I'm still on the original seal even, it's not even showing signs of needing replacement yet after a decade, and they are replaceable parts. (my parents' is on its second seal)

 

I have also been running a Tefal CY4000 for 10 years or so now and it's been a good unit. it sees at least as much use as a slow cooker as it does a pressure cooker, which saves the space of a separate crock pot, and it's got more than enough heat to fry off vegetables in the pot first without needing to dirty another pan. my sole complaint is that it's rather high due to the domed handle, and there's not much point turning it upside down for storage as it doesn't help a lot.

should it ever fail I will be looking at one of the Philips all-in-one cookers.

it looks munted to me, the lip of the raised edge carrying the female thread for the gland nut that retains the pressure seal plunger has half broken away. there's nothing for the washer under the nut head to seal against (even though it was a sheet metal edge to begin with), and it doesn't look like there is a lot of thread to keep the nut axially aligned or properly seated either. I kinda doubt it would fail under pressure, because pressure would be holding the bits in, and if it did you'd have more of an impromptu sauna than a bomb. but if it did the sauna might also be accompanied by a surprise pressurised fountain of liquid at well above 100 degrees due to pressurisation, so yeah nah.

 

I had a few goes at reassembling it in what seemed to be the correct configuration to withstand 65kPa of pressure trying to shoot that little anodised aluminium plunger into the ceiling of my kitchen, and it just didn't feel right.
There's no way to prevent that "floating" nut you can see through the hole from turning while you attempt to tighten up internal fitting without completely dismantling the plastic bits on the top of the lid. Just seems like a shit design to me.
Back to Aldi it goes. I'll look into getting a Tefal, I liked this Aldi model's options to saute ingredients right in the pot before putting the lid on or use it as a slow-cooker, exactly what I am after in a more durable appliance.

 

How much salt did you use?
I recently made mum's Mustard Pickles & there was much more salt than I expected.

I might have a whack at this tomorrow all going well.