My French grandmother always used to make a big pot of this gorgeous stew in the winter when we used to visit.  It makes good use of winter oranges and is now a firm favourite of my family!  It is also very quick to prepare and smells divine while cooking!  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. This recipe will serve 4-6 people depending on portion sizes!


Boeuf a  l’Orange

1 kilo diced stewing beef / 2 oranges / 1/2 cup dried lentils soaked overnight or 1/2 cup barley / 2T tomato puree / 1 leek, diced / 2 onions, diced / 1/2 cup white wine / 2 cups hot beef stock / 2 bay leaves / 4 sprigs thyme or heaped t of dried thyme / 2 T flour / oil for frying / flat leaf parsley, torn

  1. Dust beef with flour and brown in hot olive oil in a casserole or frying pan.
  2. Add onions and leek and saute about one minute – don’t let them brown.
  3. Squeeze the juice of one orange and add to stock, together with wine.
  4. Pour mix onto beef and add lentils / barley, tomato paste, herbs and zest and diced fruit of the second orange or if you have used a frying pan, transfer beef to a casserole and add other ingredients.
  5. Cover and cook in a pre heated 180 deg oven for 2 1/2 – 3 hours, stirring each hour.  If the sauce seems to get a little thick towards the end of cooking, slosh in a drop more wine (if you haven’t drunk it all by then!)

If you can’t be bothered soaking lentils and don’t like barley you can add a tin of lentils in the last half hour of cooking! Remove the thyme sprigs  and sprinkle on the flat leaf parsley before serving straight from the casserole dish.  This is fabulous served with feta and sundried tomato mash – Mash boiled agria potatoes with a good amount of extra virgin River Estate Olive Oil, add 200g cubed  goat feta and 1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes, and freshly ground black pepper, mix gently so as not to break the feta up – heaven!

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This is a fabulous recipe that takes only a short while to prepare and cook from  Ruth Carpenter, who runs Ruth’s Cooking Classes, a few kilometers from Clevedon.  Ruth is passionate about cooking (and eating!) good food using fresh quality ingredients, locally sourced as much as possible.  Ruth’s classes are designed for everyday people who want to cook a bit better and cover a wide variety of interests – Fast Family Meals and Easy Entertaining are the two most popular ones.  Each month there is also a selection of seasonally inspired classes and a speciality class such as Gluten Free Baking or Meat Free Mondays.

Classes can be booked by going to www.cookingclassesauckland.co.nz



Pepper and Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breast

4 skinless free range chicken breasts  /  2 red peppers  /   1 ball Clevedon Buffalo Mozzarella  /   1 small handful of basil leaves  /   8-12 slices of Parma Ham or Proscuitto  /   River Estate Olive Oil  / Salt & Pepper

  1. Cut the red peppers in half and place under a hot grill, skin side up.  Grill until skin starts to blacken and blister.
  2. Remove peppers from oven, allow to cool, then remove skin.
  3. Heat oven to 200D/fan180D.
  4. Lay the breasts on a board and slit each one horizontally to make a pocket.  Season with salt and pepper and then fill with peppers, mozzarella and basil leaves.
  5. Wrap each breast carefully with the ham, tucking the ends under.  Put on a baking tray join side down to prevent filling from coming out during cooking.  Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 35 minutes.
  6. Grill to finish browning if necessary.
  7. To serve – slice diagonally through the middle and place on plate.

Serve with – Green Beans – Remove the stem end from the beans and boil or steam just long enough for them to be hot but still crunchy, about 2-3 minutes.  Drain then toss the beans in River Estate Olive Oil and sea salt.

Tips – You can buy jars of grilled peppers if you don’t want to do your own grilling, but doing your own is cheaper and you won’t end up with a jar of peppers you may not finish / Using Free Range and or Organic chicken will result in a better flavour / Don’t overfill the chicken breast it will be hard to keep the stuffing inside while it is cooking / Clevedon Buffalo Mozzarella is available in speciality food stores or at the Clevedon Farmers’ Market it can be substituted with other brands of imported buffalo mozzarella but the texture and flavour won’t be quite the same.

 

Watch out for Ruth’s next contribution to our What’s Cooking page – Lemon Panna Cotta with Lemon Caramel