Bread Dumplings

To use up leftover baguette or any other bread.
I have used it to go with a casserole, with roast chicken, and in a broth.

For the dumplings

• 200g/7oz stale baguette or other bread (crust included)
• handful chopped parsley
• 250ml/9oz milk
• pinch of nutmeg
• 5-6 leaves of Sage (optional, instead of parsley)
  
  
  salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 free-range egg
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• butter, for frying
  
  
  1. Cut the baguette into small cubes and place in a bowl. Add the parsley or Sage. Bring the milk to a boil and pour over. Stir so that the milk is absorbed evenly, then cover and leave for 15 minutes.
  2. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper, stir in the egg, and mix in one tablespoon flour. If the mix is too wet (it should be moist and only slightly sticky), add a second spoon of flour. Wet your hands a little to help stop the dough sticking to them, then make 12-14 dumplings (smaller than a golf ball).
     
     
     3-, heat a knob of butter in a large frying pan and fry the dumplings on a medium heat for five minutes or until golden-brown and crisp, then drain.
     
     
     4- Or cook them in the oven next to a roast
     5- Or shape into smaller balls and serve with broth

Meatball and Egg Tagine

Meatballs:

• 450g/1lb minced beef or lamb
• 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp hot paprika

Tomato sauce:

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 800g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon hot paprika
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• salt to taste

Also:

• olive oil
• 4 large eggs
• salt and ground black pepper
• handful fresh coriander leaves, coarsely chopped, to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. For the meatballs, put the minced beef, parsley, cumin, paprika, one teaspoon salt and some black pepper into a bowl and mix together well using your hands or a fork. Dampen your hands and form the mixture into about 28 2.5cm/1in balls. Set aside.
3. Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a shallow tagine or frying pan and brown the meatballs briefly on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate and set to one side.
4. For the sauce, add the onion to the tagine or pan with the remaining tablespoon of oil and cook gently for ten minutes until very soft and just beginning to brown. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and leave to simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until well concentrated in flavour but not too thick. Season well with salt to taste.
5. Return the meatballs to the sauce and mix together. Transfer to a shallow ovenproof dish if you have prepared the sauce in a frying pan, otherwise leave the mixture in the tagine. Make four slight dips in the mixture and break an egg into each one. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the eggs are just set.
6. Scatter with the chopped coriander and serve with warm flatbread or cooked rice

Pulled Beef Pot Roast

This is a slow cooking recipe, very easy to make your own variation adding spices or herbs.

Ingredients for 6 people

• 1.500 gr. Stewing beef, in one piece
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 large tomato, peeled and chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt, Pepper, chili powder
• 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1 tbs vinegar, any will do
• 200ml. red wine
• 200 ml tomato pasata 

To Finish: 

300 gr button mushrooms

In a large heavy casserole, gently brown the meat on all sides for a few minutes.

Meanwhile wash and cut the vegetables into large chunks.

Arrange the vegetables around the meat. Add your own mix of vegetables according to the season, I like to add tomatoes, carrots, red pepper and leeks. 

Season the meat with salt, pepper, chili flakes, and 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar. You will not notice the vinegar in the stew but it enhances the flavor.

Drop the bay leave into the casserole.

Add the wine and tomato pasata. The meat should be half covered with the cooking liquid.

Cover the casserole and bake in the oven at 150º Celsius for 2-3 hours.

Add the  mushrooms or for the last 15 minutes of cooking

To serve:

The meat will be very tender and you will be able to 'pull it apart' in the casserole to get strands of meat.

Serve hot with mash Potato
For a majorcan twist, saute 600gr peeled and diced potatoes. Tip them over the stew just before serving.

Dumplings for Stews

These vegetarian dumplings from taste delicious in an autumn stew

Makes 12 large dumplings

Ingredients

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs
• 100g Butter or oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 small bunch mixed fresh herbs, such as chives, thyme and parsley, finely chopped
• 2 eggs

Method: How to make herbed dumplings

1. Put the flour, breadcrumbs, suet, chopped herbs, and seasoning into a large bowl, mix thoroughly, and then make a well in the centre.

2. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork and pour into the well. Mix with a fork, bringing dry ingredients into the centre, to form soft dough. Take over with your hands, working the dough until just combined - do not overwork as this will make the dumplings hard.

3. Divide the dough into quarters, then make three round dumplings from each quarter.

4. Add dumplings to simmering stew half an hour before ready to serve, and cover with lid.

Beef Curry

This is another easy stew to make. You can assemble the stew and leave it to cook for 2-3 hours.
As all stews, it is best made one day earlier.

Ingredients for 6-8 people:

• 1.5 kg. stewing beef, cut into large chunks
• 1 large onion, sliced
  
• 1 carrot, sliced
  
• 1 stick of celery, chopped
  
• 2 tbsp curry powder, hot or mild.
  
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 x 2cm piece of fresh ginger
  
• 1 red pepper, chopped
  
• 400 ml. tin of coconut cream
• salt and pepper, to taste
  

Fry the onion with 1 full teaspoon of salt and 2tbsp oil, for 5 or 10 minutes. The colour of the curry will depend on how long you fry the onion. If you want a rich dark colour, fry it for longer until it begins to caramelize. If you want a light colour, fry it for 2-3 minutes until it softens.

Meanwhile, take the garlic, ginger and pepper, place them in a blender with half a glass of water.
liquidise this until you have a smooth, bright red liquid. Put this mix to one side.

Add the curry powder, carrot and celery to the onion. Stir for a minute and incorporate all of the meat, the liquidised pepper mix, and the coconut cream.
Stir the meat, cover the pan and bring the stew to the boil.
Turn the heat down to the minimum and simmer gently for 2 hours.
Check the seasoning and add more salt if needed.

Serve hot, with Indian bread and a pilau, or just plain boiled Basmati rice.

Meatballs and Spaghetti

For the meatballs:

• 500 gr minced beef meat
• 1 slice white stale bread, mashed with a bit of milk
• 1 small onion, grated
• 1 tbsp mixed herbs
• salt and pepper
• ½ tsp grated nutmeg

For the Sauce:

• 200 ml crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 small onion, chopped
• salt, pepper
• 200 ml white wine

Mix the meatball ingredients in a bowl; if the mixture is too wet, mix in some breadcrumbs.

Make a regular tomato sauce in a large saucepan:
Fry the onion for 10 minutes until soft. Add a dash of vinegar and let it reduce for 1 minute. Add the rest of ingredients and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes.

What I do is simply shape the meatballs and drop them into the sauce one by one as I make them. This saves a lot of time and they come out perfect.
One all of the meatballs are in the sauce, simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Serve with freshly cooked spaghetti.

Majorcan Beef Stew

This is how my grandmother used to make beef stew.

Ingredients for 6 people

• 1kg. Stewing beef, cut into cubes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 large tomato, peeled and chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 200ml. stock or red wine
• 5 potatoes, peeled and diced

In a large pan, gently stir fry the onion with the carrot and tomato for 15 minutes. Add the Garlic cloves and bay leaf.
Brown the meat cubes on all sides in a separate frying pan. Add the meat and the wine or stock to the saucepan, season and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 hours.
At the end of the cooking time, fry the potatoes in a separate pan until cooked through, and tip over the stew just before serving.

Majorcan Meatballs

This how my grandmother used to make meatballs. She served them with fried potatoes; these were diced into small cubes, fried, and poured into the meatball stew just before serving. Delicious!

Ingredients for the meatballs:

• 500 gr minced beef meat
• 1 slice white stale bread, mashed with a bit of milk
• 1 small onion, grated
• 1 tbs dry oregano or marjoram
• salt and pepper to taste
• large pinch of nutmeg

For the Sauce:

• 200 ml crushed tomatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
  
• salt, pepper
• 200 ml chicken stock or white wine

Mix the meatball ingredients in a bowl; if the mixture is too wet, mix in some breadcrumbs. With clean hands, make balls the size of a walnut and place them on a large tray or work surface. Fry the meatballs for a few minutes on all sides. Set them aside on a plate or bowl.

Make the sauce in a heavy based saucepan. Fry the onion and carrot for 10 minutes until soft. Add the rest of ingredients and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes. Add the meatballs and simmer for 45 minutes.
Serve hot, with French fries, spaghetti or mashed potatoes.

Curry Meatballs

I always keep curry spices in my cupboard. What I do is make my own spice mix in a coffee grinder. I don't follow any particular recipe, but use 2 tbsp cumin and coriander as the base of the spice mix, then add 4-5 cloves, a chunk of nutmeg, a few chillies, 4-5 cardamom pods. Then I grind it and store it in a jar, to use whenever I need it.

Meatballs are a great way to cater for large groups, and they are sure to be a hit.
Today I am making the curry meatballs as follows

For the Meatballs

• 600 gr minced meat
• 1/2 onion, chopped
  
• 1 plain yogurt
• 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
  
• 1 bunch coriander, chopped finely
• ground chili and pepper, to taste
  

Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl, using your hands.

For the sauce:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 green pepper
• 1 potato, diced
• 1 tbsp ground curry powder
• 1 cup single cream
  

Stir fry the onion in a little oil or butter, add the spices and stir for a minute, add the pepper and potato and stir. Season with salt and pepper, pour the cream and bring the sauce to the boil. Bring the heat down and simmer gently.

Now you can shape the meat into walnut size balls and place them in the sauce. Be careful not to move them around at this point, or they will break. when all of the balls are in the sauce, cover the pan and let them simmer for one hour. Shake the pan once or twice during the cooking, to coat the balls with the sauce.

Serve hot with basmati rice and Indian breads.
I am serving this with a lentil curry and home made flat breads.