My time clock is up the wall at the moment due to being up from 1.30am on Christmas night with Georgie screaming about her ears. Had a moment of mad panic when I remembered that I had forgotten to write Calpol on my shopping list and had visions of trekking through the snow to a friends at 2am. Luckily for me I had been over zealous with my list as always and found some in the back of the cupboard. Georgie is fine now but coupled with snoring man upstairs my insomnia has crept back so here we are!.........
Rather than lying there blogging in my head at 3am I thought I'd just pull myself up get myself a coffee and have a little me time. We have been having a cook off since Christmas day due to the fridge freezer breaking along with all the other leftovers so there has been a serious amount of food lying around far more than the usual Christmas excess. I have invented a few new dishes, well new for me and for the first time in my life I have cooked a stew. The only reason I have actually avoided making stew until now is I have always believed that only old people make stew, as a child it was a staple in my nan's house along with corned beef hash. So now I am officially old but on a positive it tasted fab......
Goose and Pork Stew
1 Onion (diced)
Flour (2 tbs)
Goose and Pork leftovers
Chicken Stock (2 pints)
3 Carrots
Green Beans
Parsnips
Potato's (however many you generally use for mash depending on how many of you are eating!)
Goose Fat
Heat some goose fat in a frying pan and mix in the flour to make a loose paste, Add the onions, fry until golden, break up meat and add to the pan. Add half of the stock mix well and then put the mixture into a large stock pot and simmer for half and hour stirring occasionally.
Add the rest of the stock and if you are using fresh root vegetables such as, the carrots and parsnips add them to the stock pot now (I added the green beans towards the end as they were leftovers and just needed reheating) Leave to simmer on the stove for an hour stirring occasionally (the longer it is left to stew the more flavoursome)
30 minutes before the end of cooking time throw in any leftover vegetables you want to use. Boil up some potato's for the mash. I prefer mash with my stew alternatively add potato's to the pan with the other root vegetables.
We have finally found a fridge freezer which has been an absolute nightmare unfortunately they cannot deliver it until the 4th of January which is not ideal but luckily mum is popping up with her old one today. I am really excited as we are getting one of those American ones which has an ice maker, well it will have when I get it plumbed in. Just to think I have been struggling with warm Baileys this Christmas (life if hard!.....) the one time of year I actually need ice and I have none. Oh well Georgie is going to love it as she is crazy for smoothies and milkshakes. I will post a picture of the super duper fridge once I have worked out how.
