Beef Bourguignon with Chive Dumplings

I featured Beef Bourguignon with Chive Dumplings here in my sample meal plan.  One of my lovely readers Lisa requested the recipe and here it is....

The dumplings are super easy to make and are a great alternative to mash.

The recipe sounds big because a half portion is used for another meal ~ Beef Stroganoff.  You could just freeze the other portion and use it later.

Beef Bourguignon with Chive Dumplings
Prep 20 mins Cook 2hrs 10mins

2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5kg diced beef chuck steak
20g shortcut rindless bacon, halved lengthwise, cut into 1cm strips
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I use minced garlic from the jar)
3 medium brown onions, quartered
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup bef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
300g button mushrooms, halved

1. Heat half the oil in a large heavy-based, flameprof casserole dish over medium-high heat.  Cook beef in batches for 5 to 6 minutes or until browned.  Transfer to a bowl.

2. Reduce heat to medium.  Heat remaining oil in dish.  Add bacon and garlic.  Cook stiring for 5 minutes or until bacon is golden.

3. Return beef and juices to dish.  Add onion and wine.  Bring to the boil.  Add stock and paste.  Bring to the boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer, covered for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Reserve half the beef for Beef Stroganoff.

4. Add mushrooms, cook covered for a further 15 minutes or until meat and mushrooms are tender.  Season with salt and pepper.


Chive dumplings

1 cup self raising flour
50g butter, softened
2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup buttermilk (I use regular milk)

Place flour in a bowl.  Using fingertips, rub butter into flour until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Make a well in the centre of mixture.  Add chives, parsley and buttermilk.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir until just combined.  Place heaped tablespoons of mixture 2cm apart onto beef mixture.  Cook covered for a further 15 minutes or until dumplings are puffed and cooked through.  Enjoy!

Thai Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin soup and Pea & Ham soup are Winter staples in our home.  Yesterday was supposed to be shopping day but I wanted to do some work around the house so we had a Happy Home Day instead.  Which meant finding something quick and easy for tea.  This was so easy and super yummy and seriously inexpensive so I thought I'd share, perfect for the arrival of Winter.

Thai Pumpkin Soup

I just googled for a recipe and thanks to allrecipes.com.au I found this...

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 10g butter
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 4 brown shallots, chopped
• 2 small fresh red Thai chilli, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 4 cups peeled and diced pumpkin
• 1 cup fresh baby basil leaves

Preparation method

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 20 minutes

1.

Heat oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook garlic, shallots, chilli and lemongrass for 5 minutes or until onion softens. Stir in chicken stock, coconut milk and pumpkin; bring to the boil. Cook, covered, for 15 minutes or until pumpkin softens.

2.

Blend the soup in a blender or food processor, in batches, until smooth.Reheat in saucepan. Serve sprinkled with basil leaves.

Lemongrass is available fresh or already chopped in a jar.  We are lucky enough that it grows in our herb patch along with the chilli's.  The coconut milk added a yummy flavour.  I'm not a fan of basil although we have copious amounts of both the regular and Thai basil, so I used the coriander we have growing.

I usually serve in bread bowls but I found some dinner rolls in the freezer and used those.

I also didn't use a blender, I just let it cook until it was super soft and used the potato masher instead..less washing up