Casserole Recipes

1. Never cut the meat in too small cubes. Cut in whole roasts or in quite big cubes 4-5 cm (1.5-2.0 in).

2. Use a stew pan or roaster with a tight lid. Or a casserole dish.

3. Brown the meat carefully on all sides, it gives a lot of taste. Use olive oil or butter. Some use fat from bacon but be careful the smoked taste doesn't get too predominant.

4. Sauté the fine cut veggies like unions, leeks and root veggies. But carefull with carrots and parsnips, they can add too much sweetness to the meal.

5. Deglaze, that is boildown the casserole with 2 glasses of red wine, beer or mild vinegar, the last must cook till all is completely gone. Your choise will depend on your taste and the meat. The bitter taste of beer will tone down or vanish during the cooking - a stout does well with pork or beef.

6.Add liquid, so half the meat is covered, preferably stock from veil, beef or poultry. Also add a little bouquet garni (thyme, parsly and bay laurel) is the classic choice, little salt and pepper.

The lid should be as tight as possible, put the casserole in the oven at low heat - the lower the longer cooking time and the better result. Shank will demand about 4 hours at 130-140C (266-284F).

The fine cut veggies, we added at the beginning have done their job and we can drain them when the meat is soft. The veggies you will serve with the meal you either cook separately or add to the casserole 30 minutes before the meat are soft, so you don't cook them smashed.

When the meat is soft - really soft - you can keep it warm in the casserole, while you remove the foam and taste the sauce to what you want.
If you like the sauce to taste of a bit more then it might need to reduced.
If it needs sweetnes, you can add Port, honey or maple syrup.
Does it need the acid taste, add a bit of lemon juice or mild vinegar (which also helps if the taste is too salty).
Tomato purée has both the acid and some sweetness, which gives fulleness to the taste.
A trick the professional chefs do is t add balsamico vinegar reduced to 1/3 and just a tiny bit honey. It is really good to many different kind of sauces. If you want to thicken the saunce depends on your taste.

Serve from the casserole dish or in a preheated bowl. A dust of parsley will look good.

Remember to enjoy the food :-)

iittala Teema Oven to Table Casserole Dish with Lid
Blue

These lovely casseroles do not only look good but are also very useful, you can use it in the oven, microwave, refrigerator and freezer. They have a non-porous surface does not absorb food odors, flavors, or stains.
They will look good on any table.

I just love the design of this - looks very sophisticated I think.
... and it is also the perfect cooking tool.

I was inspired by Rosemary Shrager, the Castle Cook, I watched one of her shows in Ireland November 2007 and used the veggies we had in house.

It turned out so good, that I wrote down the recipie for later cooking.

A warning: be sure the meat you use will be tender after 30 minutes cooking. If you have meat that will take 1 hour to be tender, then start with the meat and after 30 minuntes add the veggies. Don't let the veggies cook for more than 30 minutes or you will spoil the meal with over cooked veggies - yaks!

4 persons

Ingredients:

* 350 g (0.7 lb) beef (young beef) in thin slices and then stripes
* 2 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 carrot (large) in cubes
* 1 parsnip (large) in cubes
* 12 brussel sprouts in halves
* 1 leek (middle)cut in 1 inch slices
* 1 garlic (yes a whole garlic) finely chopped
* 1 tablespoon sage
* salt + pepper
* 2 tablespoons plain flour
* ½ liter (2 cups) of water

You Do:

1. Spice the flour with salt and pepper
2. Mix the beef in the flour
3. Fry it in the olive oil - 1 layer at a time
4. Add the garlic - let it fry 1 minute
5. Add ½ liter (2 cups) of water
6. Add all the veggies
7. Let it cook 30 minutes.

Serve with brown rice.