What's For Dinner Wednesday? Beef & Carrot Ragout

It's 4am here, and as I sit here typing this out my little redheaded friend is sharing the sofa while she watches In The Night Garden. Screaming banshee act started at 1am, nothing would settle her so I figured we'd sit on the couch together instead of the fruitless settling we had been trying. Little feral! She is as happy as larry now, chatting away as I type this out.

Ok so for this weeks' easy as pie Wednesday recipe I have gone for the ultimate in fuss free cooking. Anything involving the slow cooker is perfect when you are tired or busy... or both. Just prep in the morning and throw the lot in and hit start. Your meal is ready in 6-8 hours. Perfect.

image and recipe via taste.com.au

Beef & Carrot Ragout with Pasta

Ingredients (serves 4)

1/4 cup plain flour
1kg gravy beef, cut into 5cm cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large brown onions, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
3 sprigs thyme
3 large carrots, peeled, roughly chopped
cooked pappardelle pasta, to serve

Method

Place flour in a snap-lock bag. Season with salt and pepper.

Add beef and shake bag to lightly coat beef in flour, shaking off excess.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add half the beef. C

ook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes or until browned. Spoon into slow cooker. Repeat with oil and remaining beef.

Reduce frying pan heat to medium. Add remaining oil and onion to pan. Cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute. Pour in wine. Bring to the boil.

Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until wine has reduced by half. Add stock, thyme and carrots. Bring to the boil. Spoon sauce over beef and stir to combine.

Cover and cook in slow cooker on HIGH for up to 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon over pasta and serve.

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Peas!

wickedsunshine.com



My mother and father-inlaw fly back home this afternoon so we will be having leftovers for dinner. We have an abundance of peas and my mother in law happened to leave me her Delicious Magazine (issue 84 July 2009) and they have a great section at the back for quick recipes for left overs.


They have a quick pea recipe on page 154 and I'm going to try it since we have all of these ingredients here already and after the traffic I'm bound to get on the way to the airport I don't think I'll feel like popping out to get more groceries.


Left-over Pea Pasta (I've named it, you can tell since it is so creative)

Cooked pasta of your choice


2 cups of peas


1 cup fresh ricotta cheese


1/2 cup fresh mint


Shaved Parmesan


Salt & Pepper


Crush 2 cups of blanched peas with a fork. Season, then mix with ricotta and chopped mint.


Stir through cooked pasta and drizzle with olive oil and add some shaved Parmesan.


Could it be any easier? Come on, could it?!

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Pasta with Chevre

Ok so I am a very bad bloglady because I lost the email one of my kind readers sent in for today's Wednesday dinner recipe.

So I'm using an old faithful of mine. Because Wednesday is the middle of the week and probably the low point in terms of imagination for me in the kitchen I tend to go for easy meals relying on ingredients that I always have in the pantry/fridge.

Today it is Pasta with Chevre Cheese, Prosciutto & Peas.

We are really lucky where we live because we have a different market every week. Saturday was the farmer's market and we went along after swimming class with the Tinker. I usually buy milk and cheeses from the goat farmer and this week was no exception. So that's why we are having it for dinner tonight- the ingredients are already here. Easy.

You need:

~About 200g of prosciutto or pancetta, chopped.
*If you don't eat pork, this recipe works well if you replace with capsicum aka bell pepper)
This is something I always have because I buy it in the vacuum packs and it keeps for a long time. I suppose you could also use regular ham or bacon but the flavour won't be as good.

~2- 3 cloves of garlic crushed
*This is one ingredient I'll only buy if it is organic Australian garlic because the Spanish/ Chinese imports are so tasteless.

~1 cup of frozen minted peas
*Or you could use fresh peas and fresh mint leaves, but who has time for that?!

~200g / 1 cup of fresh chevre cheese.
*I like the one I buy at the market which is marinated in garlic and olive oil but any fresh chevre cheese will work really.

~1/2 cup chopped onion
You already know I love the pre chopped frozen variety but that is just my laziness!

~1 cup chicken stock
You may only use 3/4 cup, depends. I buy the liquid stock these days and keep it in the pantry. No time for making my own.

~Pasta
Whatever you have in the pantry, we are having fusilli tonight but any small-medium pasta will work. The shells are great with this and on the weekend whe you have more time you might want to make some gnocchi and serve with this sauce. Or you could just eat out on the weekend like me.

~Olive oil

~Lemon if you have it, otherwise don't worry.

Recipe

~While the water is boiling for the pasta you throw your garlic, onions and proscuitto (or capsicum if you are not having the pork) into a pan and cook in olive oil til soft, not brown.

~Get your pasta into the boiling water.

~Add the peas and cheese to the other pan and add the stock slowly so it simmers. Take it off the stove.

~Drain the pasta when al dente. Add to the pan with the sauce and stir through.

~To serve squeeze some lemon juice over and add some freshly ground pepper and salt. Easy.