Slow Cooker Beef Pot Roast

Did this at Jenny and David's with the vac pack beef they sell at Waitrose. Worked well. The finishing in the oven was definitely necessary. Only problem is that I now can't remember which of their slow cookers we used, and they vary in temperature significantly.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1½ kg rolled beef brisket
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 sticks of celery, chopped
• 2 parsnips, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 80g button mushrooms
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp English mustard
• 500ml red wine
• 250ml beef stock

Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil in a large pan. Dust 1½ kg rolled beef brisket with 2 tbsp plain flour and season well with salt and pepper
2. Put 3 chopped carrots, 3 chopped celery sticks, 2 chopped parsnips, 1 chopped onion and 80g button mushrooms in the bottom of your slow cooker and turn it to Lo
3. Sear the beef all over in the hot pan then place it on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker.
4. Add the 2 bay leaves, 2 crushed garlic cloves and 2 tsp English mustard then pour over 500ml red wine and 250ml beef stock. Cover with the lid and cook for 7 hours.
5. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Carefully take the beef out of the slow cooker and place it on a baking tray then roast it in the oven for 20 mins.
6. While the beef is in the oven, carefully ladle the cooking liquid out of the slow cooker into a shallow pan. Boil rapidly on a high heat to reduce to a rich gravy.
7. Serve the beef sliced with roast potatoes, the softened vegetables, gravy and wilted greens, if you like.

Source: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-pot-roast

Aubergine Dip

Ingredients

• 1 aubergine
• 1 clove of garlic
• ½ - 1 fresh green chilli
• ½ a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ½ lemon
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas 4. Pierce the aubergine a couple of times with a knife, then roast for 45 minutes until blackened, softened and collapsing. Leave to cool.
2. Peel and crush the garlic, deseed and finely chop the chilli and pick and finely chop the parsley.
3. Scoop the cooled insides from the aubergine into a food processor. Blitz with the garlic, chilli, oil, a good squeeze of lemon juice, the parsley and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
4. Taste and adjust the seasoning, oil and lemon as needed. Place in a dish and sprinkle with paprika. Serve with flatbreads.

Source: https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/aubergine-dip/

Peanut stew with rice

2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 head garlic, minced
fresh ginger, minced (about 2 tablespoons, maybe)
2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
70g cup peanuts, crushed with mortar & pestle
1 litre stock
1 can diced tomatoes
250g peanut butter (preferably natural, just peanuts)
1 bunch spring onions to garnish
1 lime

• Cook the onions and red pepper flakes in half the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
• After ~5 minutes add the garlic, ginger, potatoes, red bell pepper, and peanuts. 
• Continue to cook for awhile longer, maybe 10 minutes, just until the potatoes start to soften a bit. Add more butter if things begin to stick to the bottom of the pot.  
• Add the stock, remove from heat, and blend briefly with a stick blender thicken the broth, keeping the soup pretty chunky. 
• Put back on the burner, add the tomatoes (with juice) and the peanut butter. I ended up adding another couple cups of water and a boullion cube, and some ground cayenne pepper and black pepper, and then I just let it simmer for 1/2 an hour or so. 
• Towards the end I added the juice from one lime, and chopped up the spring onions to serve over the top.

I served this over jasmine rice:

Bring 1 cup water, 1/2 cup white wine to a boil, along with 1 tablespoon of butter and a pinch of salt. Stir in one cup rice, lower heat, and let simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let rest for another 10 minutes.

Adapted from Jesse M.R's friend Emily's blog: http://emmanyc.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/peanut-stew-with-rice.html

Roasted Garlic

Ingredients

One or more whole heads of garlic.

Method

1 Preheat your oven to 200° C.

2 Peel and discard the papery outer layers of the whole garlic bulb, leaving intact the skins of the individual cloves of garlic. Using a sharp knife, cut 1/4 to a 1/2 inch from the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

 

3 Place the garlic heads in a baking pan, cut side up. (A muffin pan works great for this, as it keeps the garlic bulbs from rolling around.) Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each exposed head, using your fingers to rub the olive oil over all the cut, exposed garlic cloves. Cover the bulb with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F (205°C) for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

 

4 Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Eat as is or mash with a fork and use for cooking. Can be spread over warm French bread, mixed with sour cream for a topping for baked potatoes, or mixed in with Parmesan and pasta.

Source: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_garlic

Chai Masala recipes

Tried the BBC one. OK, but too much cardamom and think I would have preferred it with addition of nutmeg and/or cloves:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/theultimatemasalatea_86647

A few others to try:
http://thehathicooks.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/how-to-make-best-chai-ever.html
http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-homemade-chai-47061
http://joannagoddard.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-best-masala-chai-youll-ever-have.html

Cornbread

Ingredients

• 375g plain flour
• 225g cornmeal (polenta worked fine)
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 50g sugar (cut down from 110g in original recipe, but could leave out altogether)
• 480ml  milk
• 2 free-range eggs
• 110g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
• (Added some hot sauce to good effect)

Preparation method

• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. 
• Grease 23cm/9in square baking pan with melted butter.Alternatively, you can bake these in a muffin tray lined with paper cases.
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.
• Mix until you have the consistency of a sponge cake batter.
• Pour into the prepared baking pan. 
• Bake for about 20 minutes in the top of the oven. (Needed 30 mins). The cornbread is ready when it has a golden colour and is springy to the touch. 
• Allow to cool slightly before cutting.

Adapted from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cornbread_86386

Indian 'base sauces' to try

http://indianfood.about.com/od/masalarecipes/r/basicgravy.htm

http://www.cook4one.co.uk/c2/bases/c44base.html