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Sunday, 23 October 2011

Bacon or Ham Stewpot

There is something about a really messy casserole dish that appeals to me.  Of course, what really happened is that I tried to stuff too much food into my Le Creuset and it leaked out!

If you don't eat meat you could leave it out and it would still be a tasty stewpot.

However I had this gammon joint from the lovely Kilnford Barns Farm Shop and I thought it would be ideal to get at least half the week's dinners out of it.  As I already had Pamela Westland's Casserole Cooking out of the bookcase for Random Recipes last week, I noticed that there was a 'bookmarked' recipe for Bacon Stewpot.

750g (1.5lb) unsmoked bacon, collar or slipper
25g (1oz) butter
225g (8oz) small onions, peeled
4 medium leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 tbsp plain flour
450ml (3/4 pint) stock, hot
2 medium carrots, sliced (I used about 10 small/medium carrots)
225g (8oz) haricot beans (soaked overnight and drained)
225g (8oz) potatoes peeled and sliced (I probably used about 2lb, no wonder if spilled over!)
freshly ground black pepper

The recipe states that you should remove the rind and cut up your ham into cubes, but as I wanted to use it for other things,  I cooked it, covered in water, for 20 minutes in the pressure cooker until it was just tender.  I kept the ham stock to make soup later.

1. Melt the butter in a casserole dish and gently fry the onions and leeks until they are soft.
2. Stir in the flour, and add the hot stock stirring constantly.  Simmer to cook out the flour for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the bacon, carrots beans and potatoes (to be honest you could use any root veggies here, add a bit of celery or some butternut squash, whatever you've got, bung it in)
4. Season well with pepper and bring to the boil for 3 minutes.
5. Cover the casserole and cook in a pre-heated oven for 1 1/2 hours.  Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
6. Serve with a green vegetable.

As I wasn't using the cubed bacon but had the whole joint in the pot, so once it was cooked I took out the bacon joint, halved it and cut half into cubes then stirred them back into the vegetable mixture.


This makes a huge pot of delicious, filling and warming food, which would feed 6-8 people.  It would be ideal for a Halloween or Bonfire Party and, even better,  I still have half the ham which I'm making into a pie and will feature in another post soon!


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posted by Janice @ 16:16 13 Comments

Sunday, 28 February 2010

Fresh from the Oven - No Knead Bread

The January challenge at Fresh from the Oven was to make this No Knead Bread in a cast iron casserole! It sounded quite easy and didn't involve too much work so I had a go. Here is the recipe supplied by Claire:


No Knead Bread

The Mix

  • 15oz Strong White bread flour - it works best with all white I think
  • ¼ tsp instant easibake yeast (out of a sachet)
  • 1 tsp table salt

Stir together well then add 10.5 fl oz of lukewarm water (a mugful)

Slosh it round into a gooey lump of dough with a fork

Leave in a big bowl and cover with cling film or put the bowl in a bin bag
Leave it in kitchen for 16-18 hours – or more if you forget.


The 16hr Sloosh

Use a dough scraper/cutter or your fingers, to scrape the wet porridgy dough away from the sides, using plenty of flour to stop it sticking, and shuffle it back into a nice round shape. Don't be tempted to knead it.

Cover with a tea towel and leave for 2 more hours.

The Bake

Preheat oven to 200-220 and put in a lightly oiled Le Creuset or other large cast iron casserole with a lid on until the oven and the pan are super hot.

Again use the scraper and a good sprinkle of flour to detach the dough from the bowl without puncturing it’s airy goodness. Then quick as you can, without losing the heat from the oven and pan, tip the dough onto one hand then flop it into the hot pan the right way up again and put the lid back on and get it back in the oven immediately.

  • Bake for 30 minutes lid-on
  • Then cook for 10-12 minutes more, lid-off until golden brown


If it’s not hollow sounding on the bottom put it back in, without it's tin for an extra 5 minutes. Tip out and cool well before trying to slice

Tips

  • I find this works best for me if I make the dough around the school run (3.30pm) then do the first dough slooshing when I get up, then bake it mid morning. As you can see, the times can be very approximate! Another option might be to mix the dough on a Friday when you get in from work, sloosh it mid morning on Saturday and bake it at lunch time ready for Saturday evening. It seems like a long process but it really is no effort when you get your head round it.
  • If you haven’t got one yet it’s worth getting a dough cutter/scraper to save on sticky fingers. My plastic one was only 90p from a local cook shop.
  • My new Le Creuset (25cm) is a little bit too big for this recipe so I sit my lightly oiled 20cm mermaid pie tin in the bottom to help shape the loaf to be a bit taller and rounder. I also sometimes scatter a bit of semolina in the base for an extra crunchy bottom. You can use oil instead of flour to de-stick the dough from the mixing bowl, but it makes for a wetter and slighty denser outcome like the one shown at the end of this post. It is one of those loaves that comes out a little bit different every time anyway due to the extended prove.
The picture above is the gloopy, fermenting mixture of flour, yeast, water and salt.

and here is the cooked bread in it's Le Creuset casserole, it came out remarkably easily, I was a bit concerned that it would stick.

The loaf is remarkably like a Ciabatta, it has the same open texture and chewiness, it also kept very well. I would definitely recommend this loaf and I know that other bakers who didn't have a Le Creuset casserole used other kinds of pots with lids (it's the steam that is important), so why not check out their blogs via the Fresh from the Oven blog and have a go yourself.

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posted by Janice @ 06:30 17 Comments