Had a brilliant day yesterday and wanted to cook more than I could eat so went for a second walk with Alfie instead ;) which earned me a total of 6pp for the day. I’m going to do a meal planner for the week so I can include all the recipes I keep finding that I want to try but still stick within my ProPoints allowance. I’m away next weekend and normally a weekend with Chantel would end with a weight gain but I’m going to cook so hopefully will save a few ProPoints, unfortunately we haven’t found a way of saving ProPoints on the red wine yet! I made a beef and ale casserole yesterday and have to say and it was amazing! I could’ve happily eaten it all, I served mine with a huge portion of purple sprouting for zero ProPoints but you could serve it with mash or chips or bread for extra ProPoints.
My beef and ale casserole
Serves 6, 8pp each
2 tbsp vegetable oil (8pp)
1kg/2lb 3oz braising steak, cut large pieces (35pp)
2 sticks celery
12 Chantenay carrots, or 2 carrots
6-8 shallots or 2 large onions
3 cloves garlic (plus
1 heaped tsp tomato purée
1 tbsp plain flour (2pp)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ litre/17fl oz real ale or bitter (6pp) (I used Old Embers from Waitrose, a dark ale made in Walsall!)
200ml/7fl oz dark beef stock
1 BULB of garlic, broken into cloves but NOT peeled just remove papery outer
1. Preheat the oven to 160C/320F/Gas 2. Heat a large casserole on the hob. Add some of the vegetable oil and, when hot, add some of the beef in a single layer and cook over a high heat until browned. When browned, remove the beef to a bowl, before adding the next batch and browning. Don't crowd the pan. Remove the last batch of meat and place in a bowl.
2. Roughly chop the celery. Add the last bit of oil to the casserole and add the celery.
3. Roughly chop the carrots and onions and add to the casserole.
4. Slice the garlic and add to the casserole. Stir all the vegetables thoroughly and allow them to brown gently, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan as you go.
5. Once the vegetables are coloured, add the tomato purée and stir. Add the flour and stir together well until the flour is incorporated. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Throw in the whole UNPEELED garlic cloves, when cooked these aren’t strong like peeled garlic they are just soft tasty deliciousness ;)
6. Add the ale to the casserole, followed by the beef stock.
7. Bring up to the simmer and return the browned beef to the casserole.
8. Cover the casserole with a lid and place in the preheated oven to cook for 2½-3 hours, or until cooked, when the beef is done, it should fall apart to the touch.
If that doesn’t warm you up and make you feel full of comfort – nothing will ;-D
Enjoy your Sunday xx
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