Stews...

[bojan]

I like them, and make them often, especially if I work from home.

Made this on today, no official name, but I call it tomato-mushroom stew. 

Fry 1-2 finely chopped onion/s on some butter, oil or lard. Add 3-4 chopped garlic cloves. Add 200-250g of finely chopped or ground beef (you can use pork but it is better with beef). Fry until beef is no longer red. Add one table spoon of flour, mix and add some water. Add one instant-soup cube (beef or vegetable). Let it simmer a bit, then add one can of chopped tomatoes (not tomato paste), one can of mushrooms (champignons are default choice but you can experiment a bit) together with brine. Add one handful of buckwheat (if not available rice or wheat can be used), 2-3 potatoes cut to small cubes, 1 finely cut carrot, and one handful of marinated green olives. Olives can be substituted with chopped pickles or you can mix both. Season with bay leaf, parsley leaf and basil. Add water so that ~20% is pure liquid. Set on simmer and cook until buckwheat and potatoes are cooked. When close to finished add some ground black pepper.

Serve with sour cream or soured milk (not required, but some people like it that way) or add ground hard cheese optionally. Rye bread goes well with it.

Note - it tends to stick to bottom (especially if you use rice instead of buckwheat), so cook in stainless dish and use steel spatula often to remove stuck pieces. Don't add salt, since due the canned mushrooms, tomatoes and instant soup cube it should be salty enough.

Edited March 2, 2021 by bojan

[Ivanhoe]

Over the last year I've been noodling around with a "Cajun Goulash" concoction. Andouille sausage, chicken or ground beef, potatoes, cabbage, sweet onion, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, sweet white wine (typically Moscato these days), Cajun spices.

[Detonable]

2 tasty dishes! I’ve been concentrating on beer brewing lately. 

[shootER5]

This crossed my Facebook feed a few years ago and it's my go-to recipe for stew:

 

Quote

2-3lb Beef roast

1 ½ cup butter

1 ½ tablespoons flour

1 sliced onion

2 carrots

2 russet potatoes

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 minced garlic clove

½ tablespoon salt

1 ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 can (369ml) tomato paste

1 cup beef broth

1 large can Guiness

1 bay leaf

1 sprig fresh thyme

½ tablespoon black pepper

 

Sear roast on all sides and cube. [best done on a barbecue grill]

Melt butter in dutch oven.

Add cubed roast to pot and stir.

Add flour and stir.

Add onion, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, salt, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, broth, and beer.

Stir.

Add bay leaf, thyme, and black pepper.

Cover and cook for 2-2 ½ hours at 350 degrees, though I usually let it go for a while longer.

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by shootER5

[DB]

A slow cooker is an ideal tool for stew making.

You may also consider using cubed beef instead of minced/ground beef in bojan's recipe (which is quite generic, except perhaps for the olives, which takes it well outside the normal UK range for stews!

You can also use chick peas (garbanzos) or other canned beans (or if you're keen, dried beans soaked overnight and then added). Any firm root vegetables work well, too.

Consider using a dark-ish ale to partly replace the water. You can even go as far as to use Guinness, although I haven't done that myself as I'm not particularly fond of it

And now we must talk about dumplings. You'd probably omit the rice/wheat /beans option if you're going with these.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/dumplings

They're easy enough - and can be flavoured with cheese or caraway seeds or other things if you like - the link suggests parsley. You can cook them in a slow cooker, but they're best finished as stated in the link - browned in an open top casserole in the oven. I am currently forbidding myself from making these, because each one adds twice its own mass directly to your waistline.

There are also "cobblers", which differ from dumplings by not being made with suet, instead using a scone mix.

[Harold Jones]

This is my go to basic dumpling recipe.  Although I do occasionally make suet dumplings.

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup buttermilk or soured milk (add 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar to milk)

1 beaten egg

2 tsp baking powder

Mix the dry ingredients add the wet and drop by spoonfuls into soup or stew.  Cover the pot and cook for 12 minutes.