It’s getting damn cold here in New Zealand. What better way to warm yourself up than by making a hearty casserole. This one is very quick (really really quick) to make.
Ingredients
- 500g diced beef (for stewing)
- 2 big cloves of garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- olive oil
- chilli flakes, or one fresh chilli (or more to taste)
- 2-3 kumara (sweet potato) peeled and diced into big chunks
- 2 carrots peeled and diced into big chunks
- 1 big onion
- ½ cup of frozen peas
- ½ cup of red wine
- 1 cup of beef or chicken stock
- salt and pepper
Method
- Bring a stove-top casserole dish up to a high heat. Add a generous splash of olive oil.
- Cut the onion up into big chunks and fry in the olive oil. When they are browned a little, add the diced beef.
- Fry the diced beef and onion for another five minutes then add the garlic (either crushed or finely diced) and the bay leaves to the mixture. Fry until it all starts to colour the pan. Keep stirring.
- Add the red wine and bring to the boil.
- Add the beef or chicken stock and bring to the boil.
- Throw in the kumara and the carrots. Mix through the mixture with a wooden spoon.
- Season with salt and lots of ground black pepper.
- Add a generous portion of chilli flakes, or add some diced fresh chilli to the dish back when you added the garlic.
- If it isn’t bubbling bring it to the boil. Once boiling, drop the heat to as low as you can go, and put the lid on the casserole dish. Sometimes this means putting the casserole on the smallest element or gas ring, or getting a simmer plate to further reduce the heat between the gas or element, and the pot you’re cooking with.
- Leave the dish to simmer gently for around 3 hours. Give it a stir occasionally. Maybe do a taste test and adjust seasoning if required.
- Two minutes before serving add the frozen peas.
Serve in bowls, with some chopped coriander sprinkled on top. Because there’s plenty of carbohydrate in the dish you don’t need to serve with anything, other than some crusty bread to soak up all the juices.
Serves 4.