A warming pot of comfort

The Cleanse continues...and the countdown is on to when we see Anthia on Saturday and all things going to plan, we get to introduce a few extra things (brown rice and quinoa, Yay)!

Max is on location this week so he needs something yummy to eat whilst working and me being a really nice girlfriend decided to make him a beef shin stew.

You’ll need:

1 ½ kilo of beef shin — cut into 2cm cubes

2 leeks – washed and chopped finely

4-5 stalks of celery (leaves and all) washed and chopped finely

4 cloves of garlic — crushed

3 medium zucchinis — cut like the carrots (see picture)

4 medium to large carrots — peeled and cut as photo

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon rosemary — fresh and chopped finely

1 tablespoon sage — fresh and chopped finely (about 6 largish leaves)

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon of butter

Salt and pepper

water

Let the cooking begin:

Get your cooking pot (preferably a le crueset or something similar)

Melt your butter with the oil and sauté your leeks and celery till they begin to pick up a hint of colour. Then add the garlic, bay, sage and rosemary and give it a good stir and cook for a further 5 min…

Step by step...

Then scoop the leeks, celery, garlic and herbs out and set aside in another bowl.

While the pan is super hot add another splash of oil and then throw your meat in. The meat will go mental because the pan is so hot, that’s what you want, this means it will colour really well and be extra delicious.

Once your meat has sealed all over (this just means, browned — no longer raw) pop back in your leeks etc…and stir them together. Oh, and don’t forget to season each step with a little salt and pepper.

Now add the carrots and then put enough water in so the meat and other goodies are well covered. Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down and check for any scum (those foaming impurities) that might come to the surface and remove with a spoon.

Now put your pot into the oven on 100c (or lower if your fan doesn’t turn off) no fan and leave for 8 hours - 10 hours (I cooked mine when the kids went to bed last night around 8 and pulled it out of the oven this morning at 8)!

And just before I went to bed last night I popped in the zucchini.

So Max and Jemima had a delicious lunch for work and school and we also have dinner tonight - perfect!

Stew and brown rice risotto

Ideally you would serve this with brown rice or quinoa (even pasta would be delicious).

It’s more like a soup than a stew, a warming bowl of comfor - yum!

This served the 2 of us for dinner, lunch for max — twice, lunch for Jemima and I - once and one serve in the freezer for a rainy day. 

So lets say it would serve 8 generously with a grain.

Parmesan cheese on top is a must.

©Michelle Schoeps 2013

All photos taken by Michelle Schoeps