Beef and Red Wine Stew with Cheddar and Chive Biscuits

Yup, it's cold outside. Right now I'm all about puffy jackets, hot tea, electric blankets and general hunkering down. Last weekend in particular was blustery and rainy, and with Sandra and I both recovering from colds, it was the perfect opportunity to stay indoors and embark on a little comfort cooking.

A couple of years ago, when Simply Nigella came out, one of my must-make recipes was the spiced lamb stew with a goat's cheese and thyme cobbler topping. I mean, cheesy scones on a stew? Get in my belly! I tried it and loved the cobbler topping, but the stew just didn't work for me. It was incredibly garlicky, and even though I love garlic, it was way too strong for me and I couldn't finish it. However, the idea of a cobbler topping stayed with me, and I thought that a version of it it might work well with a traditional beef stew.

Let's start with the stew. This beef and red wine stew is a riff on Nigella's wonderful oxtail with Mackeson and marjoram, one of my favourite stews from How to Eat. I used her recipe as a blueprint, and changed it up to use meats and flavourings that I wanted. I love it because there's lots of layers of flavours in the stew. You start by cooking (lots of) sliced onion in oil until translucent, then adding dried marjoram and parsley.

Sautéed onions

Then you dredge some beef casserole pieces in flour with mustard powder, nutmeg and cloves, then brown them well all over. (The seasoned flour melds with the beef fat and juices, adds a layer of flavour to the stew, and helps it to get nice and thick at the end).

Seared Beef

Then you add the sautéed onions (so much flavour!), and top with carrots, celery, stock, red wine and a bay leaf.

Oniony Beef

Once all the ingredients are in, you shove the whole thing in the oven and let it cook slowly for a few hours. Bonus points for keeping the kitchen warm on a freezing cold day! Here's the stew, all cooked. Just look at that rich and thick sauce! (Note: I transferred the stew from the pot to a shallow and wide dish so that the biscuits would brown faster, but you could definitely just use the same pot if you want).

Beef and Red Wine Stew

Obviously the stew is absolutely fine as it is (more than fine, fabulous even), just sprinkled with a little parsley and served with some mashed potatoes or rice. However, I can highly recommend that you make these biscuits as a topping - they're so easy and just incredible!

It's a basic scone dough, with grated cheddar, chopped chives and buttermilk in the dough. You can use regular milk, but do try buttermilk if you can find it - it makes the topping so tender and fluffy! Sandra's colleague Julian brought her some cheese from Tilba Real Dairy, and I thought it'd be just perfect here. (Come to think of it, I'm not sure if that cheese is technically a cheddar, but I think any sharp hard cheese would suit).

Buttermilk, Chives, Cheddar

So, you grate the cheese and some butter, and rub it into the dry ingredients. (You've got plain flour and some salt and leavenings, plus some spices. Mustard powder and nutmeg in the topping echoes the flavourings in the stew). Then you stir in the chopped chives and the buttermilk to form a dough. It's an accommodating, pliable dough, easy enough to form into a dough and pat into a rectangle.

Biscuit dough

Cut the dough into circles and brush with an egg wash, and you're ready to go!

Glazed biscuits

Top the stew with the biscuits, and then bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes. The stew should be warm when it goes into the oven with the biscuit topping. If you're making the stew and biscuits at the same time then it will already be warm; if you're using fridge-cold leftover stew from the night before I'd suggest popping the dish of stew, without the biscuits, into the oven while it's preheating. Once the oven's come to temperature, remove the now-warm stew from the oven, top with the biscuits, and then bake for the remaining 15 minutes.

Biscuit-topped stew, ready for the oven

Either way, while the dish is in the oven, the biscuits half bake / half steam, turning golden brown and crisp on top, and staying tender and fluffy in the middle. They also absorb some of the flavours from the stew and are just amazing.

Beef and Red Wine Stew with Cheddar and Chive Biscuits

I liked it with some green peas on the side.

Beef and Red Wine Stew with Cheddar and Chive Biscuits

This stew would make a perfect comforting Sunday lunch or supper. Or keep leftovers for the week ahead! Leftover stew and biscuits both reheat really well in the microwave.

Beef and Red Wine Stew with Cheddar and Chive Biscuits

We can totally handle winter.

Beef and Red Wine Stew

Recipe adapted from Nigella's Oxtail Stew with Mackeson and Marjoram (How to Eat)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, peeled and finely sliced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

Small bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped

30 grams plain flour

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1-1.25 kilograms stewing beef, cut into cubes

2 celery sticks, whole

1 x 400 gram tin chopped tomatoes

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 4cm batons

1 bay leaf

200-300 millilitres red wine

300 millilitres beef stock or water

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large oven-safe casserole. Add the onions and a generous pinch of salt, and cook over a low heat until they are translucent and softened, approximately 10 minutes. Add the garlic, marjoram and a sprinkling of flat leaf parsley. Cook, stirring, for a further minute, then remove to a plate.

Mix together the flour, mustard, nutmeg and cloves on a large plate, and season with salt and pepper. Add the beef and stir to coat in the flour.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the casserole over a medium-high heat. Add the beef and brown well on all sides. (You may need to do this in batches).

Top with the softened onions, then add the carrots, tinned tomatoes, celery stick and bay leaf. Pour over the wine and stock. If the liquid doesn't cover the beef, add extra water.

Stir to mix the ingredients, place a lid on (or cover with foil if you don't have a lid), and pace in the oven.

Cook for 2-3 hours, or until the meat is tender. If you are topping the stew with biscuits, prepare them while the stew is cooking.

Serves 5-6

Cheddar and Chive Biscuits

Recipe adapted from Nigella's Goat's Cheese & Thyme Cobbler Topping (Simply Nigella)

Ingredients

175 grams plain flour, plus more for rolling

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

50 grams sharp cheddar

50 grams cold unsalted butter

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives, plus more for sprinkling later

1/2 cup (125 millilitres) buttermilk

1 egg+1 teaspoon milk, for glazing

Method

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sea salt, mustard powder and nutmeg into a mixing bowl.

Grate the cheddar using a fine grater. Chop the butter into fine cubes.

Place the cheddar and butter into the flour mixture, and rub them into the flour using your fingertips until they're distributed throughout the flour and the mixture is sandy.

Stir the chopped chives through the mixture.

Pour in most of the buttermilk and stir to combine, to form a soft dough. (Pour in the rest of the buttermilk if required to help the dough come together - you might not need it all).

Lightly flour a kitchen surface, and tip out the mixture onto the surface. Knead gently to bring the dough together, and gently press out to a thickness of just under 1 centimetre.

Dip a 6cm scone cutter into flour and cut out discs from the dough, setting the discs aside on a plate or tray as you go. Re-roll the scraps and continue until you've used up all the dough.

Beat the egg the teaspoon of milk and a pinch of salt and whisk to combine. Brush the biscuits with the egg mixture.

When you want to cook the biscuits, preheat the oven to 220C. Top the warm stew with the biscuits, and place in the oven. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the biscuits are risen and golden, and the stew is bubbling.

Makes approx. 14

Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog

Red Lentil & Chickpea dhal, Indian roast potatoes; Cucumber raita

Spice mix for the Indian roast potatoes

So anyway, you coat the potatoes in a little oil and the spice mix...

Ready for the oven

Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog

Beef Stew with Cauliflower Couscous

Let's start with the stew. It's a classic beef stew, all tender pieces of beef in a rich tomato sauce. I make versions of this quite often! You start with a base of onions, carrots and celery (I was quite generous with the amounts this time - more vegetables!), then add beef, tinned tomatoes, stock, and spices, and let it all simmer away until the beef is tender. I also added a chopped red capsicum to the stew this time, for a bit of a goulash vibe. Lovely!

Beef Stew, pre-simmering

Traditionally you'd dust the beef pieces in flour before frying them (to help the meat brown, and to thicken the sauce later). However, as I was serving it with cauliflower couscous, I thought I'd try out a gluten-free method of thickening the sauce. So I skipped the flour, but added a peeled and halved potato to the stew at the start. I got this tip from the family in Germany, when we made Gulaschsuppe. As the stew cooks, the potato breaks down and mixes into the sauce, giving the finished stew a thick and velvety texture. It works a treat! (And any little mushy pieces of potato that remain at the end are super flavourful and totally delicious).

Beef Stew, end of cooking time

Onto the couscous. I'd never had cauliflower couscous before - it was actually Sandra who suggested it. (She with the newfound enthusiasm for exercise and healthy eating). It's über popular among wellness bloggers and the like - just crumbled up cauliflower to serve as a carb-free carb substitute. I ended up really liking it. Not only did it add a bonus serve of vegetables to my lunch, but it tasted good, and I found it satisfying but not overly filling. (No post-lunchtime carb coma for me!) Obviously it didn't taste like couscous or rice, but the crumbly little pieces served reliably as the base for the saucy beef. (And I do love the taste of cauliflower). Would eat again.

Here's my beautiful cauliflower. I love how the leaves curling around the cauliflower make it look all shy. Is that just me? Yup, I'm weird, moving right along...

Whole cauliflower

So to turn it into cauliflower couscous (or, cauliflower rice, which I guess is the same thing), you peel off the leaves, cut the cauliflower up into florets and chuck in a processor...

Cauliflower florets

Cauliflower couscous

And then all you gotta do is cook it in a pan with a little oil for about five minutes, and you're done! You could cook it plain, or flavour it up however you like - I followed this recipe from A House in the Hills, and cooked it with leeks and sun dried tomatoes. Huge flavour boost, but also: more veggies! (Side note: do we all remember how good sun dried tomatoes are? I made this recipe for sun-dried tomato-stuffed chicken breast recipe the other night, and it was so good, I can't remember why I ever stopped eating sun-dried tomatoes! The 90's are alive and well in my house.)

Cauliflower couscous flavouring ingredients

So this is an easy recipe - you just sautée the leeks and sun-dried tomatoes...

Sautéeing sun-dried tomatoes, leek

Cauliflower couscous

This meal worked great as a meal prep! Stews definitely improve over time, and the cauliflower couscous lasted well, not going soggy at all. It was just as good on the fourth day as it was on the first! The meal was totally comforting, but not heavy at all. And as I've mentioned throughout the post, I kept trying to cram different vegetables into this meal, but it didn't taste like a punishment. It just tasted good!

N.B. The recipes below make six servings in total. As you know I make my meal preps for Monday-Thursday, but also had this for dinner with Sandra on the Sunday. If six servings is too much for you to eat in one week, I'd suggest freezing a couple of portions! Your future self will thank you.

P.S. Do you like cauliflower rice? Any serving suggestions? Hit me up in the comments!

Beef Stew
An original recipe by Sarah Cooks

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter (use olive oil for dairy-free)
1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 sticks of celery, chopped into cubes
1 clove of garlic, crushed
450 grams cubed beef
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon beef stock powder
1 x 400 gram tin chopped tomatoes
1 red capsicum, seeded and roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1 potato, peeled and cut into half
Parsley, to serve

Method
Melt the butter in a large casserole. Add the onion, carrot and celery. Season with salt and pepper. Cooked until softened.
Add the garlic, and cook until the garlic is fragrant.
Add the beef, cayenne pepper and paprika, and cook until the beef is sealed.
Add the beef stock powder and tinned tomatoes. Fill the tin with water and pour this into the pot. Add the bay leaf, the capsicum and the potato.
Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 1.5-2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the potato is cooked through (mash it into the sauce to thicken it), and the beef is tender.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.


Cauliflower Couscous
Recipe adapted from A House in the Hills

Ingredients
1/2 large cauliflower
1 tablespoon butter (use olive oil for dairy free)
1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 cup sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped

Method
Wash the cauliflower and cut into florets. Place in a food processor and whizz into small pieces, like couscous. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a large non-stick pan over a medium heat. Add the leek and cook until softened. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the sundried tomatoes and stir to distribute evenly.
Finally, turn the heat up to high and tip in the cauliflower couscous. Stir so all the ingredients are distributed evenly. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until heated through.

Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog

Das Kaffeehaus

Der Struwwelpeter

Das Kaffeehaus

Viennese souvenirs

Viennese and Castlemaine treats

I nearly squealed when I saw these Kaffeehaus rings. Wie süß!

Cute Viennese food rings

Das Kaffeehaus Specials Menu

You may remember I tried Rüdesheimer Kaffee when I visited Rüdesheim am Rhein a few years ago, and I was super excited to see it on the specials menu here. (That's flambéed Asbach rum with sugar, coffee and whipped cream). If I hadn't been driving I would have ordered one for sure. They even had the proper Rüdesheim coffee cups.

The fridge

I was most excited about the lovely cake display. They have lots of great things - the times that we visited there was: orange and poppyseed cake, coffee and almond syrup cake, Linzertorte, apple and custard tart, marble Gugelhupf, quark pastries, apple strudel, and most thrillingly - Topfenstrudel! (Topfen is similar to cream cheese, and I fell in love with topfen-based cakes in Vienna. It's so rare to find them here!)

Cake display

Das Kaffeehaus Menu

Austrian Almdudler for Sandra! This is the second most popular soft drink in Austria, only behind Coca Cola, with a herbal flavour. (It's also popular in Germany, which is why Sandra loves it!)

Almdudler

Coffee!

Wiener Melange - coffee!

Lunch

Frankfurters with Sauerkraut, red cabbage, mustard, horseradish and bread

Gulaschsuppe mit Semmelknödel (Gulash soup with bread dumpling)

Grießklößchensuppe - Soup with semolina dumplings & a Kaiser roll

This type of simple soup is so rare to find here, but it's so good! This was a clear beef broth with semolina dumplings floating in it. (Check out my previous post with a recipe for semolina dumplings, AKA Grießklößchen). Sandra loved the soup it so much that she ordered the exact same thing when we came back the next day.

Golden Butternut and Chickpea Stew, Quinoa and Yogurt

So hey guys, have we all noticed how cold it's gotten? Brrrr. The puffy jacket and scarf are coming out every day (the gloves would too, but I've forgotten where I kept them), we've got the electric blanket on (aaaah), and I'm downing endless cups of tea.

Naturally, with the colder weather, my meal preps need to do their part too. And with that in mind, let me present to you... my golden butternut and chickpea stew, served with quinoa and yogurt. This vaguely Middle-Eastern inspired stew is full of vegetables and vegetarian protein (chickpeas and red lentils), making it filling and comforting but not stodgy. A flavour base of harissa paste makes it wonderfully spicy. It's the culinary equivalent of an electric blanket. (I'm sitting underneath one as I type this post, and it's pretty darn great).

I improvised this stew - my starting point was half a butternut squash in the fridge, which I thought would make a great base for a warming, golden vegetable stew with some fiery harissa and nutty chickpeas. As I was cooking, I kept adding things that would increase the golden warmth factor - steeping saffron threads in the stock, adding minced ginger to the base of onions and garlic, lots of fragrant spices (turmeric! paprika! cinnamon!), red lentils, and when serving, a gorgeously golden green drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. And speaking of green, there's a little spinach thrown in there too, for good measure, plus a sprinkling of fresh coriander at the end.

I bought this harissa at a local deli, and I loved it! It can be hard to find a good harissa - the major supermarkets don't seem to stock it (not my local branches, anyway), and lots of gourmet shops seem to sell milder versions of harissa that are made of capsicums and tomatoes rather than chillies. Having said that, I have no idea what constitutes a "good" or "authentic" harissa, all I know is what I like - a really thick, almost dry, paste, with heaps of garlic and caraway. And of course it has to be really bloody hot.

Hells Breath harissa

Harissa

I've made harissa before, (Nigella's recipe, from How to Eat, is excellent), and it's well worth doing if you have the time. Funnily enough, five years ago, I wrote: "I can't justify spending $12 on a jar of expensive harissa from designer supermarkets, when it's so cheap to make at home". Hah! Clearly I've become quite the baller in the last five years.

I served the stew with quinoa, for extra protein and fibre. However, a buttered couscous would be an excellent accompaniment too, especially if studded with pomegranate seeds, barberries or sultanas, and sprinkled with pine nuts. For me, the Greek yogurt isn't an optional extra, but a mandatory addition - it's so creamy and cooling against the spicy stew. If you're feeling up for it, and like spice as much as I do, stir a little harissa through the yogurt - also delicious.

Let's talk dietary requirements! This recipe is vegetarian, gluten free, and easily veganisable if you substitute the Greek yogurt with your favourite vegan alternative. In the recipe, I specify chicken stock (again, more rich and golden than vegetable stock), but use a vegetable stock if you want to keep this vegetarian. And actually, I used Massel "chicken" stock powder, which, as it turns out, is vegan! So there you go.

I cannot overemphasise how much I loved this stew! My usual meal-preps make four servings; this one made eight, and I regretted nothing! I kept a big container of it in the fridge, and kept taking individual servings out of it. I had this for lunch at work every day, and often for dinner as well, and I was still looking forward to it by the last dinner. Obviously, you could just make this for dinner or for guests, and indeed, it'd be a great option if your friends have lots of dietary requirements. However, it was a particularly excellent meal prep. Apart from tasting fantastic and being healthy, it transported well and held up throughout the week.

Ready to take to work

Winter? We got this.

Golden Butternut and Chickpea Stew
A recipe by Sarah Cooks

Ingredients
500 millilitres chicken stock (or stock of your choice)
1 pinch saffron
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
1 small knob of ginger (2-3 cm piece), peeled and minced
1 heaped teaspoon harissa paste (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
1/2 cup red lentils
1 x 400 gram tin chopped tomatoes
1 x 400 gram tin chickpeas
60 grams baby spinach leaves
Extra virgin olive oil and chopped fresh coriander, to garnish
Greek yogurt and cooked quinoa, to serve

Method
Heat the chicken stock and add the saffron. Set aside and allow to infuse.
Heat the 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large casserole. Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the onion is softened.
Add the harissa and spices, and stir to mix.
Add the butternut squash and lentils, stirring to coat them in the delicious oily spices.
Add the stock and chopped tomatoes. Stir to combine.
Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the lentils and pumpkin are almost cooked.
Add the chickpeas and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Add the spinach leaves, and stir until the spinach is wilted.
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and chopped fresh coriander before serving.
Serve with Greek yogurt and cooked quinoa.
Serves 8