Beef Stew



Since I don't have any special baking activities recently, I decided to post up my daily cooking here to keep you remember me :) I've stew quite often at home but never think of taking any pictures of it until my hubby mention to me. 

As I don't have a proper casserole which can be used on the hob to the oven, my stew was cooked in a normal pan then transfer to a slow cooker for further cooking process. I love to make stew simply because it's a one dish meal as it's easy to prepare and serve. Furthermore, it could be turned into different type of pie dish, either bake it with mashed potato, sliced potato, pastry or just have it straight with rice, pasta or mash that would not make me bore about it. I find the stew always taste better after the day it's cooked, so I normally cook more to keep in the fridge or freezer. Some people like to cook stew with stout but it's not for me and my hubby. So I use homemade chicken or beef broth to replace it, we love  it so much! Bon Appetit!




Recipe from Jamie Oliver. (I've slightly amended the recipe to suit our appetite)


Trim the ends off 1 big stick of celery and roughly chop • Peel and roughly chop 1 onions • Peel 1 carrots, slice lengthways and roughly chop • Put a casserole pan on a medium heat, fry 2 slices of chopped streaky bacon until slightly golden brown • Put all the vegetables1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary and thyme and the 2 dried bay leaves into the pan with 2 lugs of olive oil and fry for 10 minutes
 Add 300g beef  (cut into approximately 2cm cubesand 1 tablespoon flour • Pour in 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 cup diced can tomatoes • Give it a good stir, then season with some sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper • Bring to the boil, put the lid on and either simmer slowly on your hob or cook in an 180C preheated oven for 3 hours • Remove the lid for the final half hour of simmering or cooking • When done, your meat should be tender and delicious • Remember to remove the bay leaves before serving, and taste it to see if it needs a bit more salt and pepper • You can eat your stew as it is with some mash potato and green peas at the side, or you can use it for pasta or even turn it into a beef pie. 

Homemade Pappardelle

I've been so slow for updating my blog recently and there is nothing else can help to cure my laziness. This pasta dish suppose to post on the last two weeks but I just couldn't help myself to move on uploading the pictures and click on the "new post". I still remember it's the time that Honey Bee Sweet also making homemade pasta and her spinach version is the real good one! My pasta machine had been on the sleep mode for about 3 years which I give the excuse of couldn't find any Tipo'00 flour in Singapore which I think is not true as I guess there must be somewhere selling it. It's just that I still haven't discover any places got this special flour for pasta. I insist to get this special flour otherwise I will not make it as I found it could produce a better texture. 






Last month, my friend bought me a pack of Tipo'00 flour from Europe and I really appreciate it and quickly took out my pasta machine to start on this Pappardelle. I've used to Jamie Oliver recipe so I try to recall to my previous attempt and hope it will success. The reason I choose to make Pappardelle because it's slightly expensive than normal dry pasta like angel hair, spaghetti, fettuccine. or linguine and the most important is, it's always my first choice in the pasta family just because I like the texture. But my pasta machine couldn't roll out to the width of Pappardelle. So what I can do is just fold it up and cut it with a knife. I'm quite happy with the result although it's slightly rustic but I really miss the real taste of fresh homemade pasta. 


I didn't make any fancy sauce to go with it but cook with the most simple and basic Italian cooking style like fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil right before serving. I like it very much and so much satisfaction on this fresh Pappardelle. It's real fun playing with the pasta machine again!


Sorry that I'm too lazy to post up the recipe but it can be easily get from Jamie Oliver's website as I followed exactly the same recipe of the fresh pasta and the classic tomato pasta. Cheers!