What’s Stu Cooking

Beef Stew

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lb stewing beef diced
• Roughly chopped: 1 medium onion, 1 large carrot, 2 celery stalks
• 2 cloves garlic sliced thin
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 cups beef broth
• 3 medium potatoes large diced
• 6 large closed cup mushrooms quartered or 12 or so small button mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Dumplings

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Heat the oil to its smoking point in a large Dutch oven; add the beef, some salt and pepper and stir occasionally until browned. Add the chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Season and cook over medium heat until the onion turns translucent (about 3-5 minutes) adding thyme and bay leaf in the last minute or so. Sprinkle in the flower; stir and cook for another 3 minutes, then add the red wine. Simmer off the alcohol from the wine for a few minutes and then add the beef broth. Add the potatoes. Cover and simmer slowly for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the beef is nice and tender and the consistency is quite thick.

Make the dumpling dough when the stew is almost finished. Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately. Add the wet into the dry ingredients and stir with a fork only until they are just combined.

Remove the stew from the pot and set aside. Add 2 1/2 cups of water to the pot and bring to a boil, scraping up any stuck bits of stew into the liquid. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until they start to go soft. Add the frozen corn and peas and bring back to a boil.

Using a tablespoon to portion out the dumplings, drop the dough into the boiling pot. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid at any point before this. The dumplings will absorb most of the liquid in the pot.

Remove the dumplings and add the stew back to the pot to combine with the mushrooms, peas and corn. Bring it all back to temp then stir in the fresh parsley and adjust the seasonings with salt & pepper. Place the dumplings back on top of the stew to serve (cover the pot to reheat them if necessary).

Choucroute is a big time winter favourite in my house. This may not be the most appetising photo, but believe me, it looks and smells just fantastic when you bring it to the table.

Choucroute, a dish from the Alsace, is French for dressed sauerkraut and is simply sauerkraut cooked with pork, usually sausages and cheap salted cuts like ham hock and back bacon. My recipe changes slightly each time I make it depending on what I have on hand, this year it was a joint of belly pork and some bratwurst from the freezer. I have adapted this from one of my favourite books, The Taste of France.

• 2 pounds (1 kg) sauerkraut
• 1-2 pound thick cut streaky or back bacon and/or assorted salted cuts of pork
• 4 or 5 bratwurst (cervelas, Frankfurt, Strasbourg, or Montbéliard sausages could also be used but may be harder to find)
• 3-4 medium sized potatoes peeled and quartered
• 1 onion sliced
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 3/4 cup white wine (200 ml), preferably Riesling
• 3/4 cup chicken stock (200 ml)
• small handful of fresh thyme tips or 1 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
• 3 small bay leaves
• 1 or 2 cloves and 8 juniper berries (optional, I’ve never tried it)
• pepper to taste

If the sauerkraut is preserved in brine then you’ll need to wash and press it in a colander to strain off the liquid. However, I found some sauerkraut in white wine that only needed to be drained slightly.

Generously grease a casserole dish with lard, goose fat, or plain old vegetable oil and lay half of the sauerkraut in the bottom. In the next layer add the onion, potatoes and the pork (do not add the sausages yet). Season with black pepper and herbs, add cloves and juniper berries if liked. Be careful, little or no additional salt should be required when you take into account the salted pork, chicken stock and the sometimes salty sauerkraut. Place the remaining sauerkraut on top and moisten with the wine and stock. Cover and cook in a low oven (325 F) for 3 hours.

Place the sausages on top and continue to cook uncovered for another 45-60 minutes or until the sausages have browned and are cooked through. Make sure that the liquid in the dish does not cook off. You want about an inch of liquid left at the end so add a splash of wine if it starts to dry out.

Enjoy with a dry Riesling wine.