Today for Easter Sunday I made Roast Beef. Most people have made roast beef and i have but it's always been from pre packaged roasts, so it was fun to get a roast from the butcher and prepare it all myself.

I based this on Elise's Roast Beef, but had to make a few edits:
1. Our roast was 2.5kg so times were reduced and it was ready after 1 hr 25 mins in the oven(including the browning time which was reduced from 30 mins to 20 mins)
2. I trimmed the layer of fat off before roasting.

Thanks for this recipe Elise!!!

I even made the gravy which is a first too!!!! It was delicious, I kind of did it by eye and taste, I wish I kept a note of what I had done, but it was lovely.... just hope I can recreate it. But I used red wine and stock along with the juices from the beef and some corn flour.

I adapted this from a recipe in a free magazine from my supermarket.
Really tasty and easy but required a lot of prep time. Prepare and measure as many ingredients as you can to make this easier for yourself.

Beef stew with chorizo


Serves 3

Ingredients
5 oz piece of chorizo, chopped into slices about 0.5cm thick.
Olive oil
700g stewing beef, cut into 1.5cm cubes
2 tbsp flour, seasoned
1 small onion, finely sliced
1 medium red onion, finely sliced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 red chili, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground allspice (I didn't have this but substituted for a pinch of cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger and grated nutmeg)
1 tsp paprika
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 pt chicken stock
1 x 1" cinnamon stick
Pinch of brown sugar

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 180˚C.
2. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and add chorizo. Cook for 3 minutes on a medium heat, turning once.
3. Using tongs lift the chorizo from the pan to a plate and set to the side.
4. Toss the beef in the seasoned flour, then add to the same pan used for the chorizo. Cook on a high heat until the beef is browned then add to a casserole dish.
5. Lower the heat and add 1 tsp oil. Add the onions and cook gently for 10 minutes.
6. Add the garlic, chili and cumin. Mix and fry for 3 minutes.
7. Add the thyme, allspice (cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg) and paprika, followed by the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.
8. Pour in the stock, add the cinnamon stick and bring to the boil.
9. Add to the casserole dish and mix with the beef. Place the lid on top and cook in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
10. Remove the casserole from the oven, stir in the chorizo and the pinch of brown sugar. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.
11. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Ages ago Rob read a blog post on "How to Turn Cheap "Choice" Steaks into Gucci "Prime" Steaks" and nearly every time he's cooked steak since (steak is Rob's specialty, I'm useless at it) he's used this method. I decided to have a go at it myself and make a marinade for it, I also decided to be adventurous and have a steak myself. I'm not a fan of it personally, but this was rather nice, however don't think that I'll order steak in a restaurant or anything.

So here it is....
Beef with Soy Sauce and Ginger

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 (8 ounce/ 225 gram) sirloin steaks
Salt
Pinch of mixed herbs (optional)
8 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 lime, juiced
Olive oil

Recipe
1. Cover your steaks in the salt and mixed herbs. Allow to rest for 1 hour. (See the article for details)

2. Mix the soy sauce, ginger, chilli, garlic and lime juice. Pour over the steaks and allow to marinade for 15 minutes.


3. On a very hot griddle pan, cook the sirloin steaks until medium or to your liking.


We served boiled potatoes and peas with Rob's. Champ and peas with mine.

This is another dish I first had in Tennessee and have made it a few times from a satchet since, but decided I should try something from scratch. It went down well and will be cooked again sometime soon.

The original recipe is found on Allrecipes but I've edited it slightly below.

Beef Stroganoff

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
1 pound sirloin steak, cut into bite size strips
1 onion, chopped
1.5 tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cups single cream

Directions
1. Brown the beef strips in a large skillet over medium high heat and drain excess fat.
2. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes, or until tender.
3. Add the soup, reduce heat to medium low.
4. Stir in the flour, salt, paprika and ground black pepper and let simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Add the cream, stirring well.

Serve beef mixture over pasta, rice or if you're my hubby mashed potato, but would go well with all sorts of potato. It just tastes good no matter! Give it a go and let me know what you think.

Yesterday at the butchers Rob and I picked out what we wanted for dinner tonight. Rob got a steak, I got a couple of chicken drumsticks. and here's what we did with them:


Steak in Herb Marinade

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 Sirloin Steak
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Recipe
1. Grind the rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper in mortar and pestle (If you don't have a mortar and pestle put it in a food bag and bash the life out of it with the end of a rolling pin)
2. Mix this with the oil, worcestershire sauce and garlic.
3. Place steak on a plate and cover in the marinade. Leave to stand for 3 hours in room temperature, turning occassionally.
4. Heat frying pan (don't add oil - there's enough in the marinade)
5. Fry the steak on each side for 3 minutes (Rob likes a medium rare steak - adjust this time according to what way you like your steak)


Lemon Chicken Drumsticks

Serves 1

Ingredients
2 or 3 chicken drumsticks
2 tablespoons honey
1 lemon, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced

Recipe
1. Place chicken into an oven proof dish
2. Pour the honey over the chicken and place the garlic and lemon slices on top.
3. Cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 190C


All of the above served with a choice of veg (sweetcorn for me, peas for Rob), baked potato and ciabatta to share.

I had a really busy night last night. I'm heading off to Youth Ministry Summer School today and decided to help hubby out by cooking a few things in advance that he can reheat the next few nights while I'm not here.

So firstly I made bolognese in a very straightforward quick way - brown mince beef, add sauce from jar, cook for 10 minutes, fry chopped bacon, mix into mince and separate into containers. Seeing as he isn't keen on spaghetti/pasta and loves mashed potato with bolognese, i boiled some potatoes that he can reheat and mash when he needs it.

After this I made some Irish Stew, which is a great dish and handy for nights when I'm working at home because you really just throw everything into a casserole dish and leave it to cook for a couple of hours. It really looks more complicated and longer than it actually is.

Then after this made sweet and sour chicken - cook chicken til golden, add chopped green bell peppers, stir in sweet and sour stir fry sauce and add chopped pineapple - ready in 10 minutes and delicious!


IRISH STEW

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
500g casserole beef steak pieces/lamb pieces
5 medium sized potatoes
2 large carrots
3 medium sized onions
400ml beef/lamb stock
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
1.5 tbsp butter
1.5 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp chopped spring onions

Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the meat. Brown for 5 minutes then add to a casserole dish.
3. Chop the potatoes, onions and carrots into chunky pieces. Add the carrots, onions and potatoes (in that order) to the casserole dish.

4. Add a few splashes of worcestershire sauce, season with salt and pepper then pour in the stock.
5. Cover and place in the oven and leave for 1 hour 45 minutes
6. Melt the butter in a pot, then stir in the flour: this mixture is called a "roux". Pour the sauce in the casserole into the roux and mix. When it comes to the boil pour it back into the casserole dish.
7. Add the spring onions.
8. Mix the casserole, mashing up the potatoes slightly as you do.
9. Cover and place back in the oven for 15 minutes.
10. Remove and serve.