Tag: Beef

Beef Casserole with Cheese Dumplings…

Comfort food, you can’t beat it in the winter. Sitting in front of a fire while tucking into something hearty and warming, makes you feel all cosy and fussy inside.

You can chuck any vegetables in here that you like, its a great way to use up any bits and bobs lying around. You can also cook the casserole in the slow cooker if you wish and then transfer to an ovenproof dish for the last 30 minutes when cooking the dumplings.

Please note different cheeses may give different end results to the dumplings.

Some recommended items from our kitchen for this dish…

Don’t forget to take a pic of your dish and tag us over on Instagram or Facebook @hickmans_slim_kitchen we love to see the recreations.

Also please make sure you credit us when sharing our recipes on social media. You can do this by directly linking back to the blog or tagging our social media pages.

Thank you.

Please note some posts contain affiliate links, you can find out what that means here.

Beef Casserole with Cheese Dumplings

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

Casserole:-

  • 800g diced stewing steak, fat removed
  • 4 rashers bacon, chopped and fat removed
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 small swede, peeled and cubed
  • 4 large carrots, chopped
  • 1 large red onion, peeled and sliced
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 2 parsnips, chopped
  • 2 sticks of celery, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tablespoons tomato puree
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons mixed herbs
  • 2 red wine stock pots
  • 2 tablespoons bisto gravy powder

Cheese dumplings:-

  • 100g self-raising flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 80g light mature cheddar cheese
  • 110g Primula with chives
  • 1 teaspoon fresh or dried chives

METHOD:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. In a pan gently fry the steak until sealed and lightly browned.
  3. Add the beef to a large casserole dish along with all the vegetables and the bacon.
  4. In the pan you just used for the steak add the stock pots with a little boiling water to deglaze the pan and use a whisk to combine so there is no lumps left.
  5. In a jug mix the bisto powder with a little cold water to make a paste and then make up to 2 pints of water, add this to the red wine mixture and whisk till thickened.
  6. Pour the gravy over the steak and vegetables and add all remaining ingredients and season with salt and pepper.
  7. Give it all a stir and cover with a lid or tin foil and place in the oven for 2 hours.
  8. About 5 minutes before the 2 hrs are up prepare the dumplings.
  9. Put the self-raising flour, grated cheese, chives and baking powder in a bowl and give a little stir, add the primula and mix, then add cold water 1 tbsp at a time to bring it all together to a dough. It will be quite sticky (roughly 2 – 3 tablespoons of water is all that should be needed).
  10. Remove the casserole from the oven and spoon the dumpling mixture on top in 4 or 8 even sized portions.
  11. Return to the oven with the lid off and bake for 25 – 30 minutes until the dumplings are golden and cooked.
  12. Serve immediately with extra vegetables on the side.

Hickmans Slim Kitchen

Meatball Gratin Parmentier…

It’s not often you will find me eating something that has a creamy sauce, BUT I have to admit even fussy pants me really enjoyed this one. This is our take on a classic French dish.

You can double the bechamel sauce ingredients and just use that in this recipe but after experimenting and using both a bechamel and a tomato sauce I personally found it gave this more flavour but experiment and see which you prefer.

Some recommended items from our kitchen for making this dish…

  • Non-stick milk pan as I love having the lip to make it easier to pour without spillage.
  • Silicone whisks in varying sizes, much prefer silicone to metal as it rusts.
  • A decent set of knives for chopping, with a knife sharpener which is always handy.
  • Double sided dry and liquid measuring spoons for times when you need to measure both liquid and dry ingredients.
  • Garlic crusher, we have had this one for a good while, easy to clean and can crush multiple cloves at once saving time.
  • A mandolin slicer, used on the thickest setting.
  • Cheese grater with varying grater sizes.

**NOTE: just a quick note about the seasoning we use in this dish, we have used a spice kit available from SpiceNTice which have all the spices you need all included in one kit so we don’t need to rummage through the spice cupboard for lots of different ones. Their spice kits and rubs are all Slimming Club friendly (Slimming World, Weight Watchers, Calorie counting etc). For 10% off your order you can use our code HICKMAN10 at the checkout.

Don’t forget to take a pic of your dish and tag us over on Instagram or Facebook @hickmans_slim_kitchen we love to see the recreations.

Also please make sure you credit us when sharing our recipes on social media. You can do this by directly linking back to the blog or tagging our social media pages.

Thank you.

Please note some posts contain affiliate links, you can find out what that means here.

Meatball Gratin Parmentier

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

Meatballs:

  • 250g 5% fat pork mince
  • 250g 5% fat beef steak mince
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 teaspoon SpiceNTice chimichurri rub (**See note above about this rub)
  • 1 beef oxo cube
  • 1 small egg, beaten

Tomato sauce:

  • 250g passata
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree
  • 1 teaspoon SpiceNTice Italian rub (**See note above about this rub)

Cheesy bechamel sauce:

  • 25g Clover light spread
  • 1 tablespoon cornflour
  • 200ml whole milk
  • 40g light mature cheddar
  • Salt & pepper

You will also need:

  • 3 large potatoes, sliced
  • 80g light mature cheddar

METHOD:

  1. Preheat oven 180°C fan.
  2. Boil the potatoes whole in lightly salted water until semi-soft, leave to cool.
  3. Make the tomato sauce, add the onion and garlic to a pan and saute for a few minutes until soft, add all other tomato sauce ingredients to the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 – 10 minutes until thickened. Set aside.
  4. In a bowl add all the meatball ingredients, apart from the egg and mix everything together with your hands. Gradually add in the egg, just enough to bind it all together and make as many even sized meatballs as you can, roughly a mash potato scoop size. Fry for a few minutes in a pan just to brown the outside and seal the meatballs. Take off the heat.
  5. Meanwhile make your bechamel sauce, in a heavy bottomed saucepan melt the butter over a medium heat, add a little milk into the cornflour to make a paste then add the rest of the milk. Pour the milk into the melted butter and whisk on a medium heat until thickened, add the 40g of cheese and whisk until melted. Set aside for now.
  6. Now to start assembling the dish.
  7. Evenly slice the potatoes and line the bottom and sides of an oven proof dish, reserving some of the potato for later.
  8. Arrange the meatballs on top of the potato, place the remaining potato slices between the meatballs.
  9. Pour the tomato sauce evenly over each meatball then repeat with the bechamel sauce (whisk in a little water if the sauce is too thick).
  10. Scatter over the cheese and bake in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes until the meatballs are cooked, potato fully cooked and the cheese melted and golden.
  11. Serve with a simple salad or some steamed vegetables.

Hickmans Slim Kitchen

Cuban Beef…

This recipe is a slightly adapted version from an old African friend I worked with back in 2004, she would often bring in a huge casserole dish full of this amazing meal along with rice and beans and plantain chips, it was so nice that it became a regular dish she would bring in for us all, the best part was mopping up the sauce from the dish with homemade bread that either myself or another work colleague would bring in, there was literally no trace of this amazing dish to be seen by the time we had finished.

We use smoked garlic in this dish, this can be found in most supermarkets now especially Morrisons and Tesco, if you can not find fresh then Lazy Food does it pre chopped in a jar which you can find with the herbs and spices again in most supermarkets. It does make a difference in flavour even if only subtle.

Some recommended items from our kitchen for this dish…

Don’t forget to take a pic of your dish and tag us over on Instagram or Facebook @hickmans_slim_kitchen we love to see the recreations.

Also please make sure you credit us when sharing our recipes on social media. You can do this by directly linking back to the blog or tagging our social media pages.

Thank you.

Please note some posts contain affiliate links, you can find out what that means here.

Cuban Beef

INGREDIENTS:

  • 800g diced stewing steak, fat removed
  • 1 large onion, peeled and diced
  • 2 smoked garlic cloves, crushed
  • 4 carrots, cut into matchsticks
  • 2 bell peppers, deseeded and sliced
  • 2 sticks of celery, diced
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 tablespoons tomato puree
  • 1 white wine stock pot
  • 2 beef oxo cubes

METHOD:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. In a pan gently fry the steak until sealed and lightly browned and add to the casserole dish.
  3. In the pan you just used for the steak add the stock pot and oxo cubes with 250ml boiling water to deglaze the pan and use a whisk to combine so there is no lumps left.
  4. Add all remaining ingredients to the casserole dish and pour over the gravy, season with salt and pepper and give a quick stir.
  5. Cover with a lid or tin foil and place in the oven for 2 to 2½ hours.
  6. Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick and serve with boiled rice and vegetables of your choice.
Cuban beef stuffed butternut squash

NOTES:

  • Roasting a butternut squash and then stuffing with the cuban beef is a tasty alternative to serve this aromatic dish.

Hickmans Slim Kitchen

Whiskey Pulled Beef Topped Veg…

A similar recipe to loaded fries except using lots of different vegetables perfect for a winter comfort meal whilst still adding extra veg into your meal.

What ever you do, don’t use your husbands expensive Whiskey without him knowing…. I was in the doghouse for weeks.

As always swap any vegetables with your favourites or add in extras that we haven’t already added.

Some recommended items from our kitchen for this dish…

  • Double sided dry and liquid measuring spoons for times when you need to measure both liquid and dry ingredients.
  • A decent set of knives for chopping, with a knife sharpener which is always handy.
  • Cheese grater with varying grater sizes.
  • A big time saver for chopping veg with a veg chopper, from onions to carrots this is a god send to chop quickly.
  • We have 2 of these amazing Crock Pots, they get used every week for batch cooking things from soups, chilli’s, casseroles and more. Our most used appliances.

**NOTE: just a quick note about the seasoning we use in this dish, we have used a spice kit available from SpiceNTice which have all the spices you need all included in one kit so we don’t need to rummage through the spice cupboard for lots of different ones. Their spice kits and rubs are all Slimming Club friendly (Slimming World, Weight Watchers, Calorie counting etc). For 10% off your order you can use our code HICKMAN10 at the checkout.

Don’t forget to take a pic of your dish and tag us over on Instagram or Facebook @hickmans_slim_kitchen we love to see the recreations.

Also please make sure you credit us when sharing our recipes on social media. You can do this by directly linking back to the blog or tagging our social media pages.

Thank you.

Please note some posts contain affiliate links, you can find out what that means here.

Whiskey Pulled Beef Topped Veg

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

For the pulled beef:-

  • 1 decent sized piece of beef brisket
  • 25ml honey Whiskey (normal will do aswell)
  • 1 tablespoon soft brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon SpiceNTice Argentinian steak rub (**See note above about this rub)
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 Tesco rich & smokey stock pot dissolved in 100ml boiling water
  • 6 shallots, peeled and halved

Vegetables:-

  • New Potatoes, halved
  • 1 small/medium Swede
  • Carrots, halved
  • Half head of brocolli, cut in florets
  • Brussel Sprouts, halved
  • Half head of cauliflower, cut in florets

You will also need:-

  • 160g light mature cheddar

METHOD:

  1. Mix the Argentinian steak rub and brown sugar together and rub all over the beef, marinate in the fridge over night.
  2. Sear the beef in a hot frying pan on all sides and transfer to your slow cooker.
  3. Add the tin tomatoes and shallots.
  4. Add the hot stock into the frying pan you just used to deglaze the pan, pour the stock over the beef and add the whiskey.
  5. Cook on high for 2 hours and then set to low for 6 hours or until the beef can be easily pulled.
  6. Pre heat the oven to 220°C fan.
  7. Roast the potatoes and carrots for 10 minutes, then add the sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower and roast for a further 20 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown and everything cooked to your preference.
  8. Whilst the veg is roasting put the swede on a microwavable plate and cook in the microwave on one side for 10 minutes. (Do not pierce or peel the swede literally just put it in as it is).
  9. Turn the swede over once it is done and cook for a further 10 – 15 minutes. A little longer or a little less may be needed depending on size of swede. (Please note: The swede will sound like it is “singing” as it will whistle and sound like a kettle, this is perfectly normal and why it is called “singing swede”).
  10. Once everything is cooked, simply pull the beef and mix together with the sauce.
  11. Arrange the vegetables on your plate and scoop out the singing swede.
  12. Top with the pulled beef and sprinkle over 40g of the cheese per person.
  13. Pop under a hot grill to melt and go golden.

Hickmans Slim Kitchen

Braised Steak in Red Wine…

I love our skillet pan, it gets used so often, and it makes the most tastiest of meals too. This is one of our favourite dishes to have in the winter but its a great meal all year round too. You only need the one pan to cook this in so also saves on the washing up. Yippee.

You can serve this with any vegetables you wish.

Some recommended items from our kitchen to make this dish…

  • Double sided dry and liquid measuring spoons for times when you need to measure both liquid and dry ingredients.
  • A decent set of knives for chopping, with a knife sharpener which is always handy.
  • Skillet pans, not only are they great for frying but they can also go in the oven.
  • Garlic crusher, we have had this one for a good while, easy to clean and can crush multiple cloves at once saving time.

Don’t forget to take a pic of your dish and tag us over on Instagram or Facebook @hickmans_slim_kitchen we love to see the recreations.

Also please make sure you credit us when sharing our recipes on social media. You can do this by directly linking back to the blog or tagging our social media pages.

Thank you.

Please note some posts contain affiliate links, you can find out what that means here.

Braised Steak in Red Wine

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 lean fillet steaks, fat removed
  • 10 shallots, peeled
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 250ml hot beef stock
  • 125ml red wine (10 – 12% vol)
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme
  • Steak seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon cornflour, made up with a splash of cold water

METHOD:

  1. Preheat oven 160°C fan.
  2. Season each steak with steak seasoning or just salt and pepper if you prefer.
  3. In a hot skillet pan fry the steaks on each side just to seal them, remove from the pan and set aside.
  4. In the same pan fry the shallots and garlic for a few minutes until they start to colour and soften, remove from the pan and set aside with the steaks.
  5. Deglaze the pan with the stock and wine and bring to the boil, stir in the cornflour mixture and keep stirring until mixed. If the sauce is too thick add a little hot water to it.
  6. Add the steaks and shallots back into the pan.
  7. Place the sprigs of rosemary and thyme on top and cover with tin foil (shiney side down).
  8. Place in the oven for 1 – 1½hrs or until everything is cooked and the meat is nice and tender. (If you prefer your meat rare reduce the cooking time).
  9. Serve with your favourite vegetables.

Hickmans Slim Kitchen
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