Sausage and Bean stew

This recipe is a variation of this recipe. We used Salsiccia sausages and stora vita bönor, which we substituted for lima beans. I don't know if these are the same or different.

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• 900g-1kg Raw salsiccia sausage
• 1 pack bacon
• 4 onions, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tsp hot chilli powder or smoked paprika
• 2, 400g crushed canned tomatoes
• 300ml chicken stock
• 4 tbsp tomato purée
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
• 3 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 bay leaves
• 3–4 tsp frozen thyme
• 200ml water
• 3, 400g big white bean cans
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook the sausages for 10 minutes on medium high heat until brown on all sides and set aside.
2. Fry the bacon pieces in the frying pan until they begin to brown
3. Place the onions in the frying pan and fry over a medium heat for until they start to soften.
4. Add the garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes more until the onions turn pale golden-brown.
5. Sprinkle over the chilli powder or smoked paprika and cook together for a few more minutes.
6. Stir in the tomatoes, chicken stock, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and herbs.
7. Pour over the water and bring to a simmer.
8. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the sausages into thick discs and add the sliced sausages and bacon to the stew. Let it cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
9. Drain the beans and rinse. Stir the beans into the casserole, and continue to cook for 10 more minutes or on very low heat until the sauce is thick. 
10. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chicken, Kale and Mushroom pot pie

This recipe is from here. It was unexpectedly brilliant and I think it is going to make it to our regular rotation of dishes. The main changes from the recipe that we made were that we made more for leftovers, we will add more cornstarch next time, since it was runny and that we will make it with more puff pastry on the top.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp dried or frozen thyme
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
• 900g chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
• 500g mushrooms (brown or white, but brown preferred for colour), sliced
• 600ml chicken stock
• 200g crème fraîche
• 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 300g kale
• 4.5 tsp cornflour, mixed with 2.5 tbsp cold water
• 500g pack puff pastry, laid out in sheets and thawed
• 1 egg yolk, to glaze

Method

1. Heat oven to 200C. Heat oil at medium heat in a large vessel. Add the onion and cook for 5 mins until transparent and soft. Scatter over the thyme and garlic, and stir for a few minutes. 
2. Turn up the heat and add the chicken, frying until golden but not fully cooked. 
3. Add the mushrooms and the remaining oil and fry for a few minutes. 
4. Add the stock, crème fraîche, mustard and kale, and season well. Add the cornflour mixture and stir until thickened a little. If this doesn't thicken, add more cornstarch, this is how runny the final pie filling will be. 
5. Remove from the heat and transfer to a baking dish. Cover the top of the dish with the puff pastry lid, pressing into the sides of the dish. Bake for 40 mins until the pastry is puffed up and golden.

Brazilian Feijoada

I've made this recipe 3-4 times now and it is this rich, fatty stew that is perfect for cold fall or snow days. It is very flavourful but has very little spice. I followed a couple of different recipes for this over the years but this is a good basis. Major differences are that I usually use this recipe as a vehicle for goan sausage and I use canned black beans instead of fresh. We also love the braised kale/collard greens recipe that is traditionally served with this.

Ingredients

• 3-4 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 pack streaky smoked bacon, cut into slices or 1 pack of smoked pork belly, cut into chunks
• 500g-1000g pork rib or pork shoulder or some other cheap, tough cut of pork
• 3 chorizo cooking sausages/ 1 pack goan sausages/ 1 pack chorizo
• 800g-1.5kg brined bone-in pork leg (rimmat fläsklägg), soaked in water for a few hours, skin removed, cut into a few large pieces
• 3 onion, chopped
• 8 garlic clove, smashed
• Few pinches of chilli flakes
• olive oil, for cooking
• 4 bay leaf
• 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
• To serve: steamed rice, chopped parsley or spring onions and wedges of oranges

Method

1. Heat a large heavy-based dutch oven and add the bacon/ pork belly and fry until crisp. Remove and keep the oil in the pan. In batches sear the brined pork, sausages and pork shoulder/ribs. Season with pepper, but because of the brined pork, do not salt until the very end. 
2. Remove the meat and set aside. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaves to the dutch oven and fry for 8-12 mins or until soft. 
3. Add the meat, bay leaves, white wine vinegar, chilli flakes and half the beans. Cover with just enough water to cover, about 1000ml. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 2 hrs, or until the meat is tender. If there is too much liquid in the pot take the lid off in the last hr. Add the remaining beans for the last hour. 
4. In the last 15 minutes, remove the meat pieces and shred them into large chunks and remove the bones and bay leaves. Spoon a few table spoons of th
   e beans into a bowl and smash with a fork or pulse in a blender and add back to the stew. 
5. Taste and add salt as needed (I've never needed to add salt) 
6. You can also use a slow cooker (4 hr) starting at the end of step 3.

Update 2023: I have now made this many times, most recently with sausage I picked up in Lisbon, fresh sausage, without rimmat fläsk, just fläsk karre. Also, apple cider vinegar instead of white wine. Made no difference, it was still delicious. 

 

I followed this recipe and we had yummy collard greens on the side with slices of orange.  

Slow cooker Moroccan chicken stew with butternut squash

This recipe isn't unique and a quick google search yields lots of variations, but this is how I make it, most of the time. It is moroccan themed and is warm and hearty. I probably shouldn't have added the raisins at the very beginning, but they were still yummy so thats an extra step cut out! I also added only a third of a cup of stock and the stew was quite thick, which is how I like it, but thats a personal preference. I used butternut squash in this but I suspect it would work just as well with pumpkin or acorn squash.

Ingredients:

1 Small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1kg Chicken thighs (~8, bone-in, skinned)
2 small onions, diced
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1" piece of ginger, chopped
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup stock
squeeze of tomato puree
Raisins
Spices (garam masala, paprika, chilli flakes, cumin powder, nutmeg, cinnamon)

Method:

1) Brown the chopped onions, garlic and ginger in a little oil on high heat (~7 minutes)
2) Add everything to the slow cooker. The only thing I was careful about was that the chicken wasn't on the very bottom.
3) I added the spices by eye, but it was perhaps about a teaspoon of garam masala, salt, cumin powder and 1/2 and teaspoon of paprika and chilli flakes and a shake of nutmeg and cinnamon powder.
4) On high for 3.5-4 hours.
5) Garnish with chopped parsley and eat with crusty buttered bread. It also works really well with couscous.