BROWN ALE AND BEEF STEW

The slow cooking time of this stew recipe will give to the beef a really lovely tenderness. And besides, the slightly bitter flavour from the beer will make this dish as unique as another conventional soup, or even better I'd rather say. AND OF COURSE, at the time this stew is ready, everyone's going to love the beautiful smell around the kitchen than this combination will make.

2     stalk celery
2     medium onions
2     carrots
1     heaped tablespoon all-purpose flour
1     14-ounce can of diced tomatoes
2     tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3     fresh or dried bay leaves
1     pound diced stewing beef
2     cups brown ale
3     springs of fresh thyme

PREPARATION:

Trim the ends off the celery and roughly chop the stalks. Peel and roughly chop the onions. Peel the carrots, slice lengthways, and roughly chop. Put a Dutch oven on a medium heat with the olive oil. Put all your vegetables with your herbs and fry for 10 minutes. Add your meat and flour.

Pour in the booze and can tomatoes, give it a stir and then season with a teaspoon of sea salt and some few grinds of pepper. Bring to a boil, put the lid on and let simmer in medium heat on your cooktop for 2 hours - 2 1/2 hours. Remove the lid for the final half hour of simmering or cooking and add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry. When done, your meat should be tender and delicious. Remove any bay leaves or herbs stalks before serving. Taste it and season again if needed with salt and pepper.

*GIVE IT A TRY WITH A NICE POTATO HOT-POT:

For the hot-pot topping:


1 1/4 pounds medium potatoes
Sea salt and freshly black ground pepper
Olive oil or a pat of butter
A few spring of fresh thyme






Preheat the oven to 375 F. Fill a large baking dish with your already cooked stew. Peel the potatoes and put them into a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain them in a colander and let them cool down for 5 minutes. Slice the potatoes lengthways into 1/4-inch-thick slice and lay these over the top of you stew. Drizzle with a little of olive oil or melt butter and brush this over the potatoes. Pick the thyme leaves off the stalks and sprinkle them over all the potatoes with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook in your preheated oven for 40 minutes.

CHICKEN IN THAI GREEN CURRY

You can hardly imagine the real taste of this plate. - What I love about it is the flavours all one to another mixed up making a unbelievable and delightful dish and with that magical touch of fish sauce. You will have a considerable amount of sauce to enjoy it with some rice aside.






300 gr. skinless, boneless chicken breasts
3     Cups unsweetened coconut milk
2     Tablespoons   green curry paste
1     Cup               water
3     Tablespoon     fish sauce
1     Teaspoon        sugar
1     Cup                bamboo shot strips
3     Tablespoon     green peas (frozen)
1 medium red pepper, cut into strips
2 lime leaves
20 whole leaves fresh basil

PREPARATION:

1. Slice the chicken 1/4 inch thick and 2 inch long.
2. Heat one cup of the coconut milk in a wok on high heat, until it boils. Add green curry paste and, reducing the heat to medium, stir to dissolve it in the coconut milk. Add second cup of coconut milk, raise the heat to maximum and let cook for 8-10 minutes until the oil of the coconut milk  rises tot he top and let sauce thickens somewhat. tear the lime leaves in thirds and add to the wok. Turn heat back to medium and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add chicken, turn heat back to maximum. Stir chicken into the sauce and immediately add the third (and last) cup of coconut milk, as well as a cup of water. Stir-cook for 1 minute until the mixture is bubbling happily. Add fish sauce and sugar and stir-cook for 2 minutes, until it is bubbling hard.
4. Add bamboo shots and stir-cook for 2 minutes. Add red pepper and stir-cook for 1 minute. Add green peas and 3/4 of the basil leaves. Stir-cook for 1-2 minutes, folding the ingredients into the sauce, until it all seems ready to eat.
5. Take off heat and transfer into a deep serving dish. Top with the remain of basil leaves and some other red pepper strips.

"When doing this recipe, I recommend to shop all the ingredients before you begin to cook it, as every step written above, it cooks faster than you think it will".

BEST EVER BANANA MUFFINS

If you have kids around, they're going to love these muffins. If you're by yourself, they wont last in your kitchen any longer than 24 hrs. This muffin recipe is so ridiculously easy  to make that in half an hour, or less, you will have them out of the oven perfectly baked.

3        large bananas
1/2     Cup white sugar
1        egg
1        Teaspoon baking soda
1        Teaspoon baking powder
1/2     salt
1 1/2  Cups all-purpose flour
1/3     Cup melted butter

PREAPRATION:

Mash bananas very well in a medium bowl without any chunky piece. Add sugar sugar and slightly beaten egg. Add melted butter. Add dry ingredients and bake at 375 F for 20 minutes.

Small muffins time: 11 to 12 minutes or until lovely golden-brown.

You can add chocolate chips on the top (kids gonna love this)

GUACAMOLE

Very good guacamole which can be used as an appetizer, stuffed with cherry tomatoes, and others. Its creamy texture mixed up with all the flavours of the ingredients will make you love it and eat it all in a row.

2     ripe avocados
2     garlic cloves, mashed with 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4  cup finely chopped onions
1/4  cup chopped tomatoes, seeded
4     Tablespoons lime juice
1/2  Teaspoon ground cumin
1/4  Teaspoon ground coriander
1     Jalapeno, seeded and chopped (optional)

PREPARATION:

Mash avocados with a fork till chunky (or creamy if prefer). Stir in lime juice. Mash salt with garlic until  paste. Mix in rest of ingredients to avocados. Put one avocado pit in bowl to keep from turning brown. Serve chilled, with tortillas or chips.