Spanish Casserole

This lovely rich beef casserole topped with scrolled dumplings, a recipe from my Grandma’s collection, is one of my favourite winter dishes. Most girls in our family have a photocopy of this dish somewhere in our recipe clippings. The irresistible dumplings are definitely worth the little bit of extra effort and look terrific.

Ingredients
Casserole
1 kg stewing steak (oyster blade is best)
1/2 cup grated cheddar/tasty cheese
2 bacon rashers
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup water
1 beef stock cube
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato puree (or canned tomatoes)
2 large onions
salt and pepper

Scone topping
2 cups self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup milk
1 tomato chopped
1/2 onion finely diced
salt and pepper
a little milk

Method
Get prepared by slicing the onions, cutting steak into strips,  grating the cheese and chopping the bacon.

Heat a casserole pan with a lid over a medium to high heat. Melt butter. Add the steak then top with cheese and pepper. Fry until the meat is brown then remove.

Add onions, cook until soft.

Add Worcestershire sauce, water, tomato puree, stock cube, bacon, a good grind of pepper and a sprinkle of salt and mix well.*

Cover and cook in a 170 degree oven for 2 hours.

Meanwhile prepare the scone topping. Sift flour into a large bowl, rub butter into the flour using your fingers. Add salt and the milk. Mix to form a soft dough.

Tip onto the bench and knead for a minute.

Heat a small saucepan with a lid and saute the onion until golden, add tomato, salt and pepper. Cover and cook together for about 5 minutes.

Grab a rolling-pin or wine bottle, and roll out the dough until it is about the size of an A4 piece of paper and just under 5mm thick.

Spread with the tomato and onion mixture (leave about a 1cm border around the edge).

Roll from the longest edge to form a long log. Slice into rings about 1cm thick then press each scone to flatten a little. Set aside.

After 2 hours, remove casserole from the oven. Top with the scone rings and brush with milk. Pop the casserole back in the oven and cook uncovered for another 20 minutes or until the scones are golden brown.

Serve with steamed greens.

Serves 6

From The Women’s Weekly Complete Scone Book (published in 1970).

If you are really short on time you can skip browning the meat and caramelising the onions and place all the ingredients together in the casserole and pop it straight into the oven.

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Lentils with caramelised onions and minted cabbage salad

This is an interesting meal with lots of different textures and flavours on the plate. There are heaps of onions in this recipe – but fear not the caramelised onions cook down to a manageable quantity!

I think the quiet hero of the dish is the humble cabbage which is fantastic with the zingy lemon and mint.

Ingredients
Lentils
olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 thumb sized pieces ginger, peeled and finely sliced
1 teaspoon sumac spice*
2 cups red lentils
1 1/2 cups long grained rice, rinsed and drained
Sea salt and pepper
Caramelized onions
olive oil
4 brown onions, thinly sliced
Minted cabbage salad
1/4 savoy cabbage, core removed, finely shredded
1/2 cup mint, finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
Sea salt and pepper
To serve
1 cup natural yoghurt
Optional
2 chorizo sausages, skin removed, thickly sliced on the diagonal
1 1/2 cups apple cider
Turkish bread, lighted toasted

Minted cabbage salad – finely slice the cabbage and mint. If there are some really long pieces of cabbage – chop into shorter lengths to make the salad easier to eat with a fork. Juice the lemon. Combine the cabbage and mint in a bowl and drizzle with lemon juice to taste. Finish with a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Caramelised onions – finely slice onions. Heat olive oil in a frypan. Add onions and cook gently over a medium heat until they turn a lovely golden brown colour (after about 20 minutes).

Lentils – finely chop onions and ginger. Heat a frypan or saucepan (preferably with a lid) and add olive oil. Cook onions, ginger and sumac until onions are soft (around 6 – 8 minutes).

Add lentils and 4 cups of water and cook, covered, for 12 minutes. Stir from time to time.

Wash and drain the rice then add to the lentils. Stir and cook for 15 minutes gradually adding another approximately 3 cups water to reach the consistency of porridge.

By the end of the cooking time the lentils will be soft and the rice plump and cooked through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

If serving with chorizo – remove skin, slice chorizo on the diagonal. Heat a frypan (or even better a griddle pan). Add the apple cider and sausage. Over a high heat cook until the apple cider thickens and almost reduces entirely and the chorizo deepens in colour – around 20 minutes.

To serve – top lentils with caramelised onions and a dollop of yoghurt, with a side of the minted cabbage salad and perhaps the chorizo and Turkish bread.

To reheat the lentils – this recipe makes a fair amount of lentils which keep well in the fridge and freezer. To reheat add a splash of hot water to loosen the lentils a little. The minted cabbage stores well in an air tight container for a couple of days.

Serves 4 – 6

* found at supermarkets.

Adapted from Greg Malouf’s M’jadarah recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller May 2004.

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