Chicken in ale stew with thyme dumplings

This was one of those stew/casserole hybrids necessary to get rid of some of the odder ends of the vegbox (kale and swede). We spent the afternoon making Christmas cake, while this bubbled away on the stove.

You'll need:

a couple of chicken thighs per person
1 medium swede, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, sliced
a couple of carrots, chopped
three or four handfuls of kale, shredded
half a bottle of slightly flat ale, that your Dad didn't really like much
a good pinch of thyme
lots of black pepper
a good slug of olive oil

Drizzle a decent slosh of olive oil into the bottom of a casserole dish, and brown the chicken thighs. Decant to a plate for 4 or 5 minutes while you fry the onion until it turns translucent. Tip the chicken thighs back in the dish, and add the swede, carrots, ale, thyme and lots of black pepper. You'll probably have to add a mug or two of hot water (or even better chicken stock) as well, depending on how much ale is left.

Bring all this to the boil, and then simmer for an hour or so, until the swede is tender and the chicken is cooked. Add the kale, turn the oven on (to about 200 degrees C) and then get started on the dumplings.

You'll need:

vegetable suet
self-raising flour
a teaspoon of dried thyme
a little cold water

As it says on the side of the Atora suet packet, your basic dumpling involves a ratio of 2:1 flour: suet (so if you have 100g flour you'll need 50g suet). Chuck the suet, flour and thyme into a bowl and mix. Add a little cold water until you have a slightly sticky dough. Roll into small balls, flatten slightly, and place on top of your stew.

Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or so, until the tops of the dumplings have turned golden brown. Eat at once, fighting over the last dumpling.

Steak, celery and onion stew

We spent the afternoon at the swimming pool, with you giggling like a loon whenever I pretended to be a shark. Consequently, lots of stodge was required afterwards.

You'll need:

a large piece of stewing or braising steak
an onion, chopped
four or five sticks of celery, chopped (don't worry about the leafy bits - chuck it all in)
a large teaspoon of flour
a couple of medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks
dried thyme
lots of black pepper
worcestershire sauce

I made this in the slow cooker, but you could equally stick the oven on fairly low (160 degrees C) for a couple of hours, or cook it on the stovetop.

Chop your steak into small chunks, and brown in a frying pan (you may have to do this in a couple of batches). Chuck into your stock pot. Add a teaspoon of flour to the juices left in the pan - swish it about for 30s or so, and then add a little hot water. Pour the resulting liquid into your stock pot.

Add the celery, onions and potatoes. In a slow cooker, add a little boiling water, so that the veg/meat is barely covered. You'll need to add more if you're cooking this in an oven or on the hob (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 a pint). Season with several splashes of worcestershire sauce, lots of black pepper and a good sprinkling of thyme.

Cook for 4-5 hours on high in a slow cooker, or for a couple of hours in the oven/on the hob.

We ate ours with dumplings - you'll need half suet to flour, and a little cold water to mix. Roll into balls, and then either drop into the stew or slide onto a tray and stick in the oven for 25 minutes until they're golden brown on top and fluffy inside.

Mince and dumplings

These are just the thing on a freezing cold and windy day in November. You were at nursery while I rummaged through old newspapers and colliery documents in the Northumberland archives - a traditional tea felt very appropriate.

This makes enough for three large people (you could feed more if you added a few extra dumplings, or had some potato on the side)

500g mince - I used pork, but I suspect beef mince would have been even nicer
a large carrot, finely diced
a large onion, finely diced
a stick of celery, finely diced
a stock cube
lots of black pepper and dried thyme
a good splash of worcestershire sauce

For the dumplings, you'll need:
100g self-raising flour
50g vegetable suet
a pinch of salt
a little cold water to mix

Start off with the mince. Brown (in a large, heavy bottomed pan that you can also stick in the oven), and then add the onion, celery and carrot. Cook for 5 minutes until the vegetables have softened. Add the stock cube, dissolved in some hot water, the worcestershire sauce, and lots of black pepper and dried thyme. You need the water to cover the mince and veg nicely.

Bring to the boil, and simmer for 10 minutes while you get on and make the dumplings.

(oh, and don't forget to stick the oven on to about 180 degrees C)

Mix together the suet, flour and pinch of salt. Add a little cold water, to make a firm, pliable dough. Shape the dough into little balls (I reckon this makes about 8 large dumplings and 2 toddler-sized ones).

Place the balls on top of the simmering mince, and shove the whole lot into the oven (uncovered) for 20-30 minutes, until the dumplings are golden brown and crispy on top. You might need to add a touch more water to the mince now and then, so keep an eye on it.

Goes nicely with green cabbage, or peas.

*Update*



Tastes just as good reheated...

Oxtail stew with herby dumplings

A bit of a retro one this. If you don't fancy oxtail, you can use some stewing steak instead.

You'll need:

a couple of oxtail pieces
a couple of handfuls of pearl barley
two carrots, sliced
two sticks of celery, chopped
an onion, chopped
worcestershire sauce
salt, pepper and some thyme

Brown the oxtail in your stew pot, using a little oil (I used a little olive oil, but anything would do). Add the onion and celery, and cook for a couple of minutes until the onion starts to go soft. Chuck in the carrots and pearl barley, and add enough water to cover the top of the oxtail. Add a splash of worcestershire sauce, and some salt, pepper and a fair sprinkling of thyme.

Stick a lid on the pot, and either leave on the hob, or stick in the oven at about 160-175 degrees C for a couple of hours.

For the dumplings you'll need double the flour to the suet (vegetarian, of course). For three of us I usually have 50g suet and 100g self-raising flour, mixed together with a teaspoon of thyme and some cold water.

Mould into little balls (I usually make about 8), and plonk them into the stew. Stick the pot in the oven (uncovered this time), for another 25-30 minutes, until the dumplings have gone brown and crispy. Mmmmmm.