Vegan Roast Pumpkin and Butter Bean Salad

Recipe

Makes 2 serves

Cooking time 20 mins

Ingredients

1 2-inch slice of pumpkin, cut into large chunks

olive oil

pinch of salt

1 can of butter beans

1/2 red onion, sliced into thin cresents

2 sticks of celery, cut thinly

rocket leaves

1 roasted red capsicum, drained, patted dry and sliced into long strips

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200C. Cut pumpkin into large chuncks and place on an oven proof tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and roast for about 20 mins, until pumpkin has caramelised a bit. Once pumpkin is cooked, remove from oven and let cool before making the rest of the salad. 

Drain and rinse the butter beans and place in a bowl of fresh water for about 10 mins. When ready to use drain them again. 

Add the sliced onion and celery to a large bowl, along with the drained butter beans and cool pumpkin, the rocket and red capsicum. Mix gently.

I didn't use a dressing for this salad as the roast pumpkin disintegrated a bit and coated the other ingredients with its sweetness, and the roast capsicum also added a vinegary flavour to the salad.

Thin slices of onion and celery

All packed for tomorrows lunch

Roasted Red Onion and Sweet Potato Salad

I've been enjoying bulgar for around 4 years now - I was introduced to it through researching Low GI alternatives. It's a great pantry staple to have on hand, Carlos keeps a bag at work with some canned tuna for a quick lunch option. 1 cup of bulgar has fewer calories and more than twice the fibre content of rice and is considered a whole-grain.

I have read of it being added to home-made breads and scones and will have to investigate those uses in the kitchen soon.

I usually buy my bulgar from the local nut and coffee shop, and I have seen it in some supermarkets. It makes a great comfort-food lunch in winter when "cooked" in some broth.

Bulgar is known by many different names across the globe - the other most popular name I've heard is burhgul, but it's also known as "dalla" in Indian cuisine.

Recipe

Makes 2 serves
Cooking time 20 mins

Ingredients

20 green beans, cut into small lengths
half an orange sweet potato, cut into cubes
half a red onion, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (or balsamic if preferred)
1/2 cup of roasted cashews
1/2 cup bulgar/burghul
1/2 cup boiling water
feta cheese
Ice cubes for the ice bath

Method

Preheat oven to 200C. Place chopped sweet potato and red onion into an oven-proof dish and drizzle with red wine vinegar and bake until sweet potato is soft but still holding it's shape.

In a small saucepan bring a cup of water to boil and blanch the green beans for a minute or two, depending on personal preference. Remove beans from boiling water and place into an ice-bath to seize the cooking process and to retain the vibrant colour. Once cool remove from ice water and drain.

Place dried bulgar/burghul in a small bowl and cover it with boiling water from your kettle. Cover the bowl with cling film for 5 mins and then stir. If there is still liquid in the bowl, cover it again and leave for a further 4 mins.

In a large bowl place the bulgar/burghul, sweet potato, red onion, green beans, cashews and feta cheese together and mix gently.

Keeps in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Before roasting

An ice water bath keeps the beans crisp

Lentil Bolognaise Sauce

I'll admit it: some nights it's too hard to make something healthy for dinner.

Even with meal planning there are days when I feel low, sick or just not in the mood to cook. It's times like these that my large chest freezer comes in handy - it's full of home-made bits and pieces that are ready to eat with minimal effort involved.

I keep a list of things that are in the freezer and work them into my weekly meal plans, and often I make extra of something in order to have portions on hand - it keeps the stock rotating nicely and I know that everything is home-made and preservative free. Currently in the freezer are home made beef and red-wine pies, lamb and lentil lasagne, sesame chicken balls, beef and bean casserole, barley and chorizo risotto and paprika beef stew. Some dishes actually taste better once they've been frozen - think of a rich gravy beef stew eaten a day after it was made; well, it turns out freezing does the same thing.

Sometimes I find myself wanting to cook even when dinner has already been planned and prepared. This is usually when I make some muffins or scones, but the other day I decided to make a lentil bolognaise - I have planned to make baked sweet potato with bolognaise topping and lentil enchiladas over the coming weeks. I figured I may as well make a big batch to freeze, so when those meals come around I will have minimal work to do.

Unfortunately, often-times when I'm cooking I neglect to take measurements, which makes typing up the recipe later a bit of a guessing game. I'm pretty sure I'm able to report the method and ingredients accurately, but your mileage may vary.

You can also easily convert this recipe to a Mexican flavour profile quite easily by adding jalapeños, red and green capsicum, some cumin and fresh coriander. Eating less meat is really easy and possible with legumes!

For Vegetarians and Vegans

This recipe is not strictly vegetarian as I use anchovy paste (glutimates = umami), but that can easily be replaced by soaking dried shitake mushrooms in hot water for 30 mins and using that water in the dish, and slicing the refreshed mushrooms thinly and adding those also. Seaweed is also a good substitute that has natural glutimates, or in a pinch some chopped olives added to the dish would work fine too.

Basic Ingredients - just add celery, carrot and onion

A great flavour base

Umami making goodness

Recipe

Makes 6 - 8 serves

Cooking time 40 mins

Ingredients

4 large carrots, finely chopped

half a bunch of celery (about 6 stalks) finely chopped

2 brown onions, roughly chopped

olive oil

2 teaspoons anchovy paste (or vegetarian substitute - see note above)

140 grams tomato paste

400 gram can of Italian tomatoes

500 ml tomato passata

1 1/2 cup of green lentils

1 1/2 cup red lentils

water

salt 

pepper

Method

In a large heavy based saucepan heat a tablespoon of olive oil and fry the onion and celery in batches.

Add the anchovy paste and stir fry for a minute, then add the tomato paste and fry for another minute.

Add the carrots and stir though. Add the canned tomatoes, the tomato passata and a cup of water to the pot. Add the green lentils, making sure there is enough liquid to cover the ingredients - if there is not, add more water. Bring pan to the boil and simmer for 20 mins, stirring occasionally. 

Add the red lentils to the pot along with a half a cup of water and bring it back to a slow boil for another 20 mins. Taste the sauce and season as needed.

Once cool, portion out bolognaise sauce into freezer containers and label. 

Some serving ideas for this sauce are 

• spooned over baked sweet potato
• layered in a lasagne with fresh spinach and ricotta
• served over some wholemeal pasta
• made into enchiladas
• eaten for a savoury breakfast with toast and baked eggs
• scooped up with baked tortilla chips
• served on polenta
• made into a cottage pie
• . . . . the list goes on . . . 

Each container has enough for two serves

Ready for the freezer

Roast Broccoli and Pumpkin Salad

Recipe

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

16 brussels sprouts, halved

1 2-inch slice of pumpkin, skin removed, chopped into large chunks

2 tablespoons of ghee (melted if solid)

pinch of salt

1/4 red onion, sliced into thin crescents, seperated

fresh rocket

feta cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Place chopped broccoli, brussels sprouts and pumpkin in oven-proof dishes. Pour melted ghee over the vegetables and toss to coat. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and bake in hot oven for 30 mins, or until cooked. Leave vegetables to cool for 30 mins. Once vegetables are cooled, slice the red onion thinly and chop feta into cubes. Toss the vegetables with the rocket and onion and feta.

I didn't use a dressing for this salad as the vegetables had enough ghee from the roasting which covered the rocket nicely. I also found that the roasted pumpkin came apart a little at its edges which also gave the rest of the salad a really creamy texture.

Spinach and Ricotta Scones

A perfect afternoon-tea-nom!

Last week I bought quite a bit of fresh ricotta cheese and I really needed to use it before it turned bad. In the past I've had great results with ricotta in savoury scones so I decided to try and develop some Low GI ones. The use of wholemeal flour and oat bran help lower the glycemic index of these scones, as does the use of ricotta cheese itself - it has a extremely low carb load but lots of protein which helps you feel fuller for longer.

Recipe

Makes 12 scones
Cooking time 30 mins

Ingredients

3 cups wholemeal flour + enough for dusting/cutting
1 cup oat bran
8 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
80 grams butter, cut into small cubes
2 portions of frozen spinach, defrosted and excess moisture removed
330 grams fresh ricotta cheese from the deli
2 tablespoons grated romano pecorino cheese
1 cup or milk (or near enough)

Wholemeal flour plus oat bran = Low GI

Method

Preheat oven to 200C.

Add wholemeal flour, oat bran, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the butter cubes and work into the flour mix with your finger tips, making sure all the butter is rubbed in. The mix should begin to resemble breadcrumbs. 

Add the squeezed spinach to the mix in small pieces, tearing it with your fingers. On top of this add the ricotta cheese in large-ish chunks, followed by the grated romano cheese. Mix everything together using a blunt butter knife. Add the milk gradually and mix with the blunt butter knife until no pockets of flour are left in the mix. Be wary of adding too much milk - you want the mix to bind, but not to become too wet. If you don't use the whole cup, that's fine. If you use a little more, that's fine too.

Tip out dough onto a floured surface and gently work into a large circle by shaping the edges with your palms and gently shifting the dough on the board to make sure it doesn't stick. Once you have the edges shaped, press gently and firmly with flat hands on the top of the dough to make it a uniform height. It's really important that you don't press too hard and make them too flat - the end result will be a tough, chewy scone.

When dough is uniform you are ready for cutting. Use a medium scone cutter or free-cut with a blunt knife into squares - whatever works for you.

Place cut scones on a baking tray and bake at 200C for 20 mins. You can tell scones are cooked when you tap on them with a finger and they sound hollow.

Scones can be frozen up to 2 months. If eating them once they've been frozen, defrost in fridge overnight and then refresh them in the microwave for 10 seconds.

After the butter is rubbed in - it looks like breadcrumbs

The spinach, grated romano and ricotta cheese sitting on top of the flour mix

After mixing together with a butter knife

The mix after adding and mixing in the milk

The dough turned out on to the bench

Shaping the edges

Pressing gently

Ready for cutting

Dip your cutter in flour between each cut to help minimise sticking

Ready for the oven

Enjoy with a cup of tea (or coffee)

Garlicky Chickpea, Bacon and Spinach Salad (+Vegetarian Option)

While rummaging in the chest freezer I came across a bag of bacon that looked more than a little frost-bitten. It had been in the freezer for more than 4 months, and needed to be used if it was still good. I took it out to defrost and see if it was salvageable. It was, but since I have already planned out our dinners for the next seven weeks, I decided to make it into a lunch. I thought chickpeas and bacon sounded pretty good so had a look online at some ideas, and then developed this epicurious recipe into a fresh, cool-served salad.

As you may have gathered, my partner is Spanish. Through Carlos and his family I have come to love Spanish food with a passion, and get excited about trying new things with the classics of the Spanish flavour profile. This salad has many essentials: garbanzos (chickpeas), pork, olive oil, garlic, capsicum and sweet paprika.

Recipe

Makes 4 serves
Cooking time 15 mins

Ingredients

2 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and soaked in water for 5 mins, then drained
5 rashers of bacon, sliced
olive oil for cooking
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 small red capsicum, chopped
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
150 grams baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar

Canned chickpeas are great for this dish

Garlic, paprika and bacon

Method

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, and cook the bacon. Once bacon is cooked add half the amount of drained chickpeas to the fry pan. Cook for a minute, letting the fat from the bacon coat the chickpeas. Remove from pan.

Lower the heat of the fry pan and add a bit more oil and the chopped garlic. You want to fry the garlic but not burn it, so keep the frying pan on a low heat. If you think the pan is too hot then remove it from the heat and continue to cook the garlic - there will be more than enough residual heat. Once garlic is cooked add the rest of the drained chickpeas and the paprika. Please be aware - paprika can also easily burn so keep the heat low! Stir through and cook for a minute on low heat. Remove from pan.

In a large bowl mix the bacony chickpeas and the garlicky chickpeas together. Add the roughly chopped spinach and chopped capsicum and mix well. There is enough olive oil from frying that this salad wont need a dressing, but I added a teaspoon of sherry vinegar just to have a touch of acidity.

Notes:
I will be making this again! It traveled really well and was really delicious and filling. I think I will make this with chorizo in the future for a main meal.

Vegetarian Option

To make this recipe vegetarian you can omit bacon and use vegan bacon in its place. You can also make this recipe without a bacon substitute, just begin with the fried garlic step and add all the chickpeas then.

Garnish with shaved Manchego

Vegetarian Celery and Lentil Salad Recipe

Pretty enough for a cafe

Carlos' parents grow a lot of things for themselves - lettuce, rocket, bok choi, celery, cabbage, capsicums, tomatoes, broadbeans, artichokes, asparagus; alongside fruit trees that produce apricots, nectarines, plums, cherries - which means we get to share in the bounty. Every meal at their house is amplified with just-out-of-the-ground fresh produce and sometimes we are given things to take home. It's amazing how much a regular-sized backyard in suburban Dandenong is capable of producing.

On Sunday we were given a head of celery. Its freshness and peppery taste is perfect for a Mirepoix when creating a base for a sauce or soup, but it is also so juicy and crunchy that it would be a perfect salad addition. If you're anything like me you like your salad to have a lot of crunch, and this celery certainly delivers on that count.

This is a great take-to-work lunch to make if you want to minimise the amount of animal protein you eat throughout the week - which is something Carlos and I are dedicated to doing. It's satisfying, filling, energy-boosting and doesn't leave you hungry 2 hours after lunch.

Pic of the fresh ingredient prep

Recipe

Makes 4 serves
Cooking time 20 mins
Keeps in fridge up to 3 days
Vegetarian. To convert to vegan, omit feta cheese

Ingredients

2 cups green lentils, cooked and cooled
4 ribs of celery, washed and cut on an angle
1 small red capsicum, chopped
half a small white salad onion, thinly sliced and the cut into half rounds
150 grams baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
50 grams feta cheese, chopped into small chunks
handful of pine nuts
2 teasppons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of salt

Method

If cooking the lentils from dry, place in a saucepan and cover them with twice as much water and a spash of olive oil. Bring to boil and cook for about 20 mins, or until soft to the bite. Remove from stove, drain and run under cold water until lentils are cool. Strain well, set aside.

Chop up the fresh ingredients and add them to a bowl. Add the cooled lentils to the bowl and stir through. 

In a small glass mix the sherry vinegar, olive oil and salt together the pour over the salad. Mix well.

Keep covered in the fridge. Will keep for 3 days.

Sherry vinegar, olive oil and a pinch of salt - the perfect dressing

Yum!

The Low GI Muffin Story

About four weeks ago I made some baked chicken that was soaked in buttermilk. I bought too much buttermilk and needed to use it up. We had some lemons from Abuela's tree and I knew we had poppyseeds in the pantry, so an idea was born - I would Bake Some Muffins!

I used wholemeal flour and halved the amount of sugar the recipe called for and they turned out to be delicious! Carlos and I had them for breakfast on some days of that week, and for afternoon tea on other days. They were a perfect portion size (it's possible they're too big, but Carlos would not like to hear that).

The next week I made Apple and Oatbran muffins. Then some Apple and Prune muffins. Then some Banana and rolled oat muffins. Today I made Carrot, Orange and Walnut muffins. I have Muffin Mania!

"But estherOsita," I hear you say, "how can you eat muffins if you have to eat a low GI diet?"

Well, there are a range of alterations I have to make in order for the final product to be low - medium GI, but it IS possible.

Type of Flour

I use only wholemeal flour. I never use self-raising flour, either. I add my own baking powder and soda in place of self raising flour. I have to confess that I don't even measure when it comes to baking powder and bi-carb soda, but I guesstimate how much I should use. Sometimes I just tip it out of the tub, which can make for some "interesting" results at the end of the bake, but never anything inedible. The worst that has happened were some muffins that were more like rock-scones - dense and chewy, but still flavourful. I'm not fussed if this happens, as I don't expect a low/medium GI muffin to be soft and fluffy like a butter cake. Sure, when it turns out that way it's a bonus, but the fact is if you don't use a super refined processed white flour, your baked goods are going to be more dense, and adding things like oat bran and wheat germ make the end result rougher than what you'd find at a cafe. But at least this way you know there's no palm oil/white sugar/white flour/additives/salt/etc in your snack. You're in control. It's also really speedy to knock out a batch of 12 muffins - all it takes is 30 mins start to finish and a few dirty dishes. Use muffin tin liners to cut back on cleaning time.

Type Of Sweetener

I use the internet to hunt for recipes that have minimal amounts of sugar. I like finding recipes that use honey and fruit puree in place of sugar. I've also noticed a lot of recipes using maple syrup too. If a recipe says brown sugar, I use extra dark brown sugar and use half the amount. I don't use a chemical sugar substitute like splenda, but I've heard good things about stevia. As it is, I'm happy using honey, maple syrup, apple puree and dark brown sugar instead of white caster sugar. Fresh fruit juice is also a great sweetener - I like orange juice the best.

Nuts about Nuts (and seeds!)

Adding nuts and seeds to muffins is always a good idea - they not only lower the GI of the muffin but they provide you with vitamins and essential oils. Use crushed/chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, cashew nuts, peanuts, pistachios, and sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, poppyseeds, chia seeds, etc. Seeds and nuts are known as "slow carbs" and they help to lower the Glycemic Index of the muffin by slowing down the digestion and absorption of your meal (one muffin) which in turn helps keep your blood sugar (blood glucose) levels on an even keel. 

Oats, Bran and Wheat Germ

Rolled oats, unprocessed oat bran, wheat bran and wheat germ are all things you should think about stocking in your pantry and adding to any muffin mix you make. They pretty much do the same thing as nuts and seeds - they act like a break on the digestion of the muffin and work to keep your blood glucose from spiking and then dropping really fast. Rolled oats should be the long-cooking type, not the 'minute' oats/fast cooking ones, which have a higher GI count than traditional cooking oats. Cereal bran is also a really good addition to muffins - I like to use Vogel's Ultra Bran. The best way to use it is to soak it in the milk the recipe uses for 10 mins or so.

Fruit Substitutes

You should get to know the GI values of the foods you eat, especially fruit, as sometimes a simple substitution might be all you need to turn a medium-high GI recipe to a low/medium one. Take, for example, dates. While dates are amazingly delicious, they have a ridiculously high GI value. If you substitute dates with prunes you're doing the low GI swapsies right. Prunes are a pretty yummy fruit, I'll have you know. I cut them up to add to our home-made muesli mix, and I substitute them in any recipe that calls for dates - and it WORKS.

Olive Oil instead of Butter

I've been using olive oil in my baking for about 5 years now. If a recipe calls for melted butter, simply substitute for oil. You can use other oils such as avocado oil, macadamia nut oil, and flaxseed oil if you have them on hand. Olive oil does impart its flavour on your finished product, so if you don't like the taste of olive oil, use a different oil. 

Play around with the Recipe

Muffins are a group of simple elements - dry ingredients and wet ingredients that are mixed together to form a thick batter. If you have ample raising agents your muffins should be fluffy. If you have adequate milk, egg and shortening your muffins should be moist. The more you make muffins the more confidence you will have to alter any recipe you find. Don't be sad about results that aren't perfect - it's all a part of the learning curve. 

Freezeable / Portable Snack

Freeze muffins for up to 4 months, take them to school/work frozen and enjoy as an afternoon snack.

Check out some pics of my home-made muffins (apologies for the stripey pics from my old camera)
and drop to the bottom for my Carrot, Orange and Walnut Muffin Recipe and some additional recipe links.

Lemon Poppy- seed

Apple and Oatbran

Apple and Prune

Carrot Orange, and Walnut

Carrot, Orange and Walnut (again)

Carrot, Orange and Walnut Muffins

Makes 12
Cooking time 20 mins

Ingredients

2 cups wholemeal flour
6 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
4 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1 orange, zested and juiced
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

Grate carrots into a large bowl. Add the zest of one orange and the juice of the orange. Mix through. Add chopped walnuts and mix.

In seperatre bowl mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and brown sugar. Mix very well to ensure raising agents are dispersed. Add carrot and orange mix to the flour and stir until carrot is coated with flour mix.

In a measuring jug, measure milk. Add the eggs and olive oil to jug and whisk together. Pour over the carrot and flour mix and stir gently with a metal spoon until just combined. Don't over work the batter, but don't leave pockets of flour.

Line a 12 hole large muffin tray with liners. Spoon mix into muffin cups equally. top with a piece of walnut. Bake in oven for 20 mins until cake skewer comes out clean.


Some links:
Apple and Oat Muffins
Banana and Rolled Oat Muffins
Breakfast Muesli Muffins
Orange, Banana and Oatbran Muffins
Apple, Raisin and Oat Muffins

Individual Breakfast Frittatas (and batter muffins)

Today I wanted to make some breakfasts for the week to come. I decided on individual frittatas and bought the ingredients I wanted. I meant to make a batch of 12, but I neglected to get two cartons of eggs at the store. I prepared 12 muffin cases and whisked my eggs . . . . and only had enough to fill six of the muffin cups.

Carlos volunteered to cycle to the store really quickly, but then I had an idea - what about a simple batter for the other six? I thought a Yorkshire pudding batter would do the trick - it's basically flour, egg and milk. I had two lonely little eggs left so that's what I did.

While the full egg frittatas are low GI, the batter muffins are medium to high GI because of the flour and although I did use wholemeal flour, it's still medium GI. It wont be as high a GI count as with plain white flour, but it's not as great as with just egg.

I'm freezing these little ones off, and will be able to report on freezability in a few day's time.

Ready to eat, portion controlled breakfast (or lunch, or afternoon snack)

Recipe - Egg Frittatas

Makes 6 frittatas

Ingredients

1 small white salad onion, chopped
1 small red capsicum, chopped
frozen spinach, thawed and excess liquid squeezed out
ricotta cheese
8 600g eggs
tasty cheddar cheese
large 6 hole muffin tin, muffin liners

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

In a large six hole muffin tin with liners, place pieces of capsicum, onion, frozen spinach and ricotta cheese in layers in each muffin cup.

In a bowl, grate some tasty cheese and crack the eggs in. Whisk together and then pour mix into the muffin cups.

Bake in a 200C oven for 20 - 30 mins, until set.

Starting off with capsicums . . .

Then added white salad onion and spinach

Topping that all off with ricotta

Recipe - Savoury Batter Muffins

Makes 6 "muffins"

Ingredients

1 small white salad onion, chopped
1 small red capsicum, chopped
frozen spinach, thawed and excess liquid squeezed out
ricotta cheese
tasty cheddar cheese
1 cup wholemeal flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (at a guess)
large 6 hole muffin tin, muffin liners

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

In a large six hole muffin tin with liners, place pieces of capsicum, onion, frozen spinach and ricotta cheese in layers in each muffin cup.

In a bowl, grate some tasty cheese and crack the 2 eggs in. Add whole meal flour and milk and stir until mixed into a smooth batter. Pour mix into the muffin cups.

Bake in a 200C oven for 20 - 30 mins, until set.

The egg frittatas are on the left, the batter muffins to the right, prior to baking

Finished egg frittatas

egg frittatas on the left, batter muffins on the right

The batter muffins close up

Slow Cooker Paprika Beef Stew

This dish was inspired by the collection of vegetables available in the fridge. I had some cauliflower, some red cabbage, brussels sprouts, a carrot, a brown onion and some red capsicums. I thought I could make a hungarian-style beef stew with paprika and decided the slow-cooker was going to do the majority of the work for me. I have a 3.5L slow-cooker and this recipe filled it to the brim.

Carrots, cabbage, cauli, and sprouts

Onion, garlic, and capsicum

Recipe

Makes: 6 - 8 serves
Cooking Time: 6 - 7 hours on high

Ingredients

1 kg beef, cubed
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 small red capsicum, chopped
1/4 small purple cabbage, sliced
1/4 small cauliflower, chopped into large chunks
10 brussels sprouts, halved
3 cloves garlic, left whole
1 680g jar of Passata sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons of hot paprika
1 tablespoon olive oil
freshly cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon white wine
water

For dusting meat:
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon hot paprika
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Pimenton Picante = Hot style Paprika

Method

Place flour on a plate and add to it paprika, white pepper and salt. Mix it through thoroughly. Coat the beef pieces with the spiced flour.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a fry pan over a medium-high heat. When hot sear the dusted beef cubes in batches, making sure all sides are seared. Remove beef from pan and place into the slow cooker base.

Fry the onion in the same fry pan for 2 mins, then add the capsicum and fry for a further 2-4 mins until cooked. Place in the slow cooker with the beef, along side the jar of passata sauce and a half a jar of water using the empty passata jar to measure. Sprinkle in the oregano, 2 tablespoons of paprika and the apple cider vinegar at this stage.

Add the carrot and cauliflower to the pot and stir through. Crack some black pepper over the top and drizzle the white wine across the surface. Place slow-cooker pot inside slow cooker and turn on, cooking on high for 4 hours. After 4 hours place the red cabbage in the pot, cook for another 2 hours. At the 6 hour mark take the halved brussels sprouts and steam them in the microwave for 2 mins, until soft. Add to the slow cooker and cook for another half an hour. I cooked the brussel sprouts seperatly and then added them because I wanted them to retain their colour and flavour, not to take on the redness and flavour of the stew.

Serve stew in a bowl with some crusty sourdough on the side.

Flour, paprika, white pepper, salt

All mixed together

Ready to be slow cooked

Final result - such pretty colours!

Notes:
This turned out better than I had hoped. The picante quality of the paprika made my mouth tingle for at least 40 mins after eating. There was lots for dinner and to freeze. I think a good idea for the frozen portions would be to serve over mashed sweet potato, or with a small amount of pasta, or with some cooked white beans.