All Kiwis can cook!

With the night’s drawing in as we move further into autumn the weather is certainly changeable. It was hot and sunny on Sunday and then down to a chilly 10°c on Monday. I love having the fire on to warm up the home and then a tasty aromatic casserole to fill the tummy and keep the family happy and contented.

Casseroles are very easy to put together although they do take time to cook, however the smell as the aroma’s permeate throughout the home add to the evening. Sam stomped in through the door and asked “what’s for dinner it smells great!”
Casseroles can be made with any meat or vegetables but I have done this with beef.

Beef Casserole    Serves 6

1 kilo casserole steak (eg blade steak) cut into chunks.
3 Tablespoons flour
⅛ Teaspoon ground cumin
⅛ Teaspoon ground chilli powder
⅛ Teaspoon ground paprika
4 tablespoons oil
2 large onions sliced
2 large carrots sliced into ringsA
3 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
1 cup beef stock
1 x 400gram can chopped tomatoes
100grams tomato paste
¼ Teaspoon ground cumin
¼Teaspoon ground chilli
¼ Teaspoon ground paprika
1 Teaspoon sugar
½ Teaspoon Tuscan seasoning herbs
Salt
Pepper
6 chopped mushrooms.

Heat oven to 160°C.

Combine flour and ⅛tsp of cumin, chilli and paprika in a plastic bag. Mix together. Add meat and coat in flour mixture.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan or deep pot, add meat and cook until browned all over. Remove meat from pan.
Add remaining oil to pan then add the garlic, onions and carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Return the meat to the pan and mix.
Add the beef stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, chilli, paprika, Tuscan seasoning and sugar. Stir and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer the meat mixture to an oven dish, cover and cook for 1½ hours.

Remove from the oven, add the mushrooms and mix. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper if required, (depending on your taste).
Cover and cook in the oven for 1 hour.

Beef Casserole

Serve with mashed potato and broccoli.