Louise's Beef Hot Pot

My name is Louise, I'm 29 years old and I can't cook.

Well... I can but I rarely try new recipes because it is quicker to make meals I know, rather than learning new ones.

To break the routine, I decided to challenge myself to come up with a new recipe once a week.

One night after work I had a few hours to spare, so I grabbed a few random ingredients from Sainsbury's and came home to make a beef stew.

This is something I had never cooked before, and had no recipe to follow.

To my surprise the outcome was fantastic and inspired me to start this blog, sharing my 'slap dash' recipes to inspire others to get creative in the kitchen.


The first recipe is my beef hot pot which is good for: sundays, family dinners, group meals, leftovers and flavour.

My flat mates tried it and loved it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did :-)


Louise's Beef Hot Pot

Ingredients
500gdDiced beef
Dunn's River All purpose Seasoning
1x Beef OXO cube
0.5x Vegetable OXO Cube
1/2 tsp of turmeric
1/2 small chopped onion
1 finely chopped red pepper
1x spiralized carrot*
Olive oil
1 tsp tomate puree
1 tbsp wholewheat flour
Brown/white basmati rice

* A JML Vegetti spiraliser for £11.99, is quick and effective for  cutting carrots, courgettes, squash and sweet potato.

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Add the onion, red pepper, carrot and olive oil to a pan and fry gently for a few minutes.
3. Smother the beef in the all purpose seasoning and a dash of olive oil
4. Add the beef to the pan and crumble the OXO cubes in
5. Fry the beef with the vegetables until the beef is brown all over
6. Add tomato puree, flour and boiling water to cover the meat and vegetables
7. Stir well and leave to boil for a few minutes
8. Transfer the mix to a casserole dish with a lid, and cook in the oven for at least 1 hour. 
9. Option to add more wholewheat flour to thicken the stew as you wish.

Rice 

1. Boil water in a kettle.

2. Measure 1 cup of rice, to 2 cups of boiled water and add to the pan / to a glass casserole dish with a lid.

3. Crumble 1/2 vegetable OXO cube into the rice and water and stir in.

4. If using the stove, cook the rice on low heat for 10-20 minutes. (20 minutes for brown rice)

5. If using the oven, put the casserole dish with a lid in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees. Once the top of the top layer of rice looks fluffy and curled upwards, the rice is ready.

Chef’s tips: 

• Use meat on the bone and a slow cooker overnight, for tender meat and rich flavour. 
• Substitute rice for yorkshire puddings and seasonal vegetables for a sunday meal.