I've got a very nice Nigella Lawson recipe for Beef Stroganoff but the drawback to it is she recommends fillet of beef (ha, that's alright for those married to a Saatchi but for those in the normal world - forget it!) and I've always tried to cook it with stewing steak. Now the success rate with stewing steak has been very patchy. First of all I tried cooking it in thin strips in the frying pan (as recommended for the fillet in the recipe) - VERY tough, then I tried slow cooking the stewing steak in the oven with a drop of water - slightly better but still pretty chewy. Finally, I decided to actually do 'what it says on the tin' and 'stew' the stewing steak, after all, said stewing steak is gorgeous when actually in a stew. So I chopped up the steak, sealed it in a pan, and then cooked it very slowly in beef stock. The result was fantastic, melt-in-your-mouth meat and a much cheaper version of the Stroganoff. I was well pleased, and can foresee Beef Stroganoff making frequent appearances over the winter.
For some very odd reason yesterday, I also had the urge to do a bit of baking. I first thought of making a lemon cake but the only lemon left in the fruit bowl was very 'tired and emotional' looking (ie totally shrivelled up) so I had to think again. Eventually I decided on making some Oat and Raisin Biscuits from one of Linda McCartney's cookbooks, as this was the only recipe where I actually had all the ingredients. They were very tasty (if I say so myself) even if they do look like rock cakes, and made a nice alternative to shop-bought biscuits.
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