Recipes

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Chicken and Leek Casserole - Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped                2/3 leeks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped              mushrooms, sliced

2 chicken breasts, diced      1 pint of chicken or vegetable stock

salt and pepper                  oil

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3 or 4, 160°C-180°C, depending on your oven.

Heat a little oil in a pan on a medium heat. Add the chopped onion, leeks and carrots, and cook until soft but not brown. Add the diced chicken and cook further until all the meat is sealed. Transfer all the contents of the pan into a casserole dish and add the mushrooms. Pour in enough of the stock to cover the meat and vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Put a lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven on gas mark 4, 180°C, 350°F, for 50 minutes. The casserole should be bubbling gently when in the oven so adjust the temperature accordingly.

When the cooking time is up, take the casserole out of the oven and let it stand for a couple of minutes. I think this casserole is particularly delicious when it's served with organic mashed potato or a jacket potato.

Grandma's Stew - Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped              Organic beef best stewing steak, diced 

1 swede, chopped              2 carrots, chopped

2 parsnips, chopped           mushrooms

salt and pepper                 gravy browning

corn flour                          water

Method for the stew:

Pre-heat oven to gas mark 4, 180°C, 350°F.

Place all the chopped vegetables and diced meat into a large casserole dish and cover with cold water. Add salt and pepper. Put a lid on the dish and place in the oven. Bring to the boil, remove from the oven and add 2 teaspoons of gravy browning. To thicken the stew a little more you can add a teaspoon of corn flour. Return the stew to the oven, reduce the heat to gas mark 2, 150°C, 300°F, and simmer for as long as possible. I like to leave my stew in the oven for at least 5 hours but 6 or 7 is best. Stir occasionally.

While the stew is cooking there's plenty of time to make the dumplings...

Ingredients and method for the dumplings:

225g (8oz) self-raising flour            pinch of salt

100g (4oz) lard or vegetable fat      cold water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and rub in the fat using the tips of your fingers. When you have a bowl of what seems like fine, dry breadcrumbs, slowly add small splashes of cold water whilst mixing, until you get a pliable dough. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead lightly. Pull off pieces of dough and roll into balls about the size of a golf ball. Place them back in the bowl, cover and put in the fridge until needed. Dumplings work much better if they are really cold when they go into the stew so the sooner their prepared and in the fridge the better.

Finishing off the stew:

About 25 minutes before you want to serve your stew, turn the oven up to a gas mark 6, 200°C, 400°F, and bring the stew back to the boil. When it's boiling place the dumplings gently into the stew - don't submerge them completely, you should be able to see the tops above the liquid. Put the whole lot back in the oven for about 20 minutes. When the dumplings look golden remove the casserole from the oven and let it stand for a few minutes before serving.

This stew is great when served with delicious organic mashed potato.