​Beef Stroganoff a la caravan

I bought mushrooms cheap the other day so have dug out a couple of favs - mushroom risotto with pearl barley (see earlier post) and stroganoff. I often make strog with chicken but I had beef so that's what I used this time.

Ingredients
* plain flour
* 500g lean beef strips (or chicken thigh)
* 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
* 1 brown onion, thinly sliced
* 250g mushrooms, sliced
* 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
* ½ - 1 cup beef stock
* ½ - 1tsp paprika to taste (sweet or smoked) – optional
* A smidgeon of chilli flakes – optional
* A few slivers of preserved lemon or lemon zest (whatever you have) – adds to the essential sourness of the dish
* 2-3 tbsp sour cream to taste
* Pasta to serve

Method
1. Lightly flour meat (chicken works as well as beef but use thigh meat for flavor).
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in frying pan. Add the beef. Cook over high heat until meat is browned, stirring occasionally. Remove.
3. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Increase heat to high. Add mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes, or until just tender.
5. Add beef to the onion and mushroom mixture. Stir in stock and Worcestershire sauce and other optional ingredients if desired. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low.
6. Simmer until meat is tender and sauce has thickened (you can always add a little flour to thicken the sauce if necessary).
7. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream – or if you are like me you can stir it in earlier. It gives a richer flavour (even if the cream splits a little)

Serve with pasta and greens.

Chook’s note: I rarely have sour cream in the caravan but I usually have long life cream. I sour this little boxy number with lemon juice, zest, preserved lemon, whatever I have on hand. Takes me back to the 1960s and making French onion dip with packet soup and sour cream which we had to sour ourselves.  Remember?

​Minestrone Soup

This is Jamie Oliver's recipe highly recommended by my friend Pat. Pat suggests cooking with a friend to share the chopping and of course to increase the enjoyment factor! Thanks Pat.

Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 leeks, sliced
2 carrots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
300g potatoes, diced
1.5 L boiling stock or water [Pat uses 1L veg stock plus ½ L water]
Sea salt and pepper
50g small macaroni or dried soup pasta
400g canned chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ pkt soup mix, soaked overnight, drained; OR  400g tinned borlotti beans, rinsed
200g (1 bunch) silverbeet leaves, roughly chopped
2 zucchini, roughly chopped
To serve
2 tbsp pesto
2 tbsp grated Parmesan

Method
* Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed stockpot, add celery, leeks, carrots and garlic. Cook over gentle heat for 10 minutes.
* Add potatoes and water or stock and bring to the boil, skimming surface if necessary. Lower heat, add salt and pepper and simmer, partly covered, for 20 minutes.
* Cook pasta in a pot of simmering salted water until al dente, then drain.
* Add tomatoes, tomato paste, beans and silverbeet leaves to soup and simmer 10 minutes.
* Add zucchini and simmer for 10 minutes or until the soup is nice and thick (mash a few of the beans to thicken it further).
* Add pasta and heat through. Serve in warm pasta bowls and top with a spoonful of pesto, grated parmesan and extra pepper.

Serves 4
Tip: Jamie Oliver suggests using up all those half-used bags of pasta at the back of your cupboard.
Happy cooking!!

Chook's comment: this is a seasonal soup and evolved using what ever vegetables were available. This can be made in the DreamPot or slow cooker.