0:00:31 > 0:00:34Denise, we're going to make Irish stew with beef,
0:00:34 > 0:00:35a real classic in my house,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38and it's one that I just think is a really great crowd-pleaser.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40It's only a little bit of prep time beforehand,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43and then you get it into the oven and it's all sorted.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00It could not get simpler, in terms of equipment.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03We've got an ovenproof dish and we've got a saucepan.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06So it's very simple, but if you had a casserole pot,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08- you could also do it all in one. - Great.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10That's what I've got, big casserole pots.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13So the first thing we need to do is preheat the oven
0:01:13 > 0:01:15- to 200 degrees Celsius. So a hot oven.- Mm-hmm.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18So, we're going to get the heat on our pan. We're going to batch fry off our meat.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20With the batch frying, this is important,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23because if you put all that meat in at once, it's just going to stew it,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and you don't want that at this stage. You want to brown the meat,
0:01:26 > 0:01:27you want to get good colour,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and that's where the flavour comes from as well.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31So we're going to do this in batches of two,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34so we're going to take half the meat and stick it in now.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36So a bit of vegetable oil in the pan.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38- How many packets of meat would I need?- In terms of packs,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40you're talking about two packets,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43- so it's two 500 gram packets of stewing steak.- Great.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46So we'll get them on frying, and you just have to be careful because
0:01:46 > 0:01:49the oil is nice and hot now, so just stand back a little bit.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51- Don't want it to spit.- Throw it!
0:01:51 > 0:01:53I wouldn't say throw it, Denise, but OK, go for it.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57So about half this meat going in here.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00- And don't be afraid of it spitting and frying like this.- Yeah.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Give your hands a good wash once you're done with the beef as well.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05- OK.- And just spread it across the base of the pan.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08- You got a wooden spoon?- Thank you. - Lovely.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11And once it's spread across the base of the pan, just leave it
0:02:11 > 0:02:14because, like I said, you want to get really good colour on it.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16Let it seal on one side.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19Back over to our veggies. Will we do our onions first?
0:02:19 > 0:02:23- OK.- OK. Onions, we're just getting into a nice fine chop.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Slice it down the centre and then take off the peel.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28- Keeping the root intact.- Yeah.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Taking off the top, you're going to slice down-the-ways like this.
0:02:32 > 0:02:33And not all the way through.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37- Beautiful.- And then around...- It's a rustic stew, so you can go a bit...
0:02:37 > 0:02:38It is. Yeah, that's true, actually.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41The thing is, after a low and slow cooking time, you're going to be
0:02:41 > 0:02:44left with something that's really mouth-wateringly tender,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47- so it doesn't really matter.- And you want it to look a little bit rough
0:02:47 > 0:02:50- so people know that it's...- That you made it.- Exactly.- Yeah!
0:02:50 > 0:02:53- OK.- Right, so what am I doing now? - So you're going to take this out.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55- You're going to transfer it out to a plate.- OK.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58And you're going to need the juices in the bottom.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03We're going straight in with the rest of the beef.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06- Fab. We're flying it. - I know, look at us.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Very impressive, very impressive.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10We're like the dream team in the kitchen.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12- You know what, I think we need a cookery show.- We do.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15- Something's going on here. - Yeah, definitely.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19- I do love a peeler. I know - but I find it very satisfying.- Do you?
0:03:19 > 0:03:21We're going to get the ends off our carrot, and we're going to get
0:03:21 > 0:03:24the tops off our carrot, and then we're going to cut them into chunks.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Just give them a kind of rough chop - chunky chop.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29- Chunky chopped carrots.- Yeah.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32- For a nice chunky stew.- Oh, yeah.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36- Celery next.- With celery, which bit do you take off and cut off?
0:03:36 > 0:03:39So just cut off the end. You only need to take a tiny bit off the end,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43- and then if it's looking a bit miserable at the top, trim that.- OK.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46- But all of it is usable.- So how many of these do I need to put in?
0:03:46 > 0:03:49- We've got three celery stalks going in here.- All of them in?
0:03:49 > 0:03:51All of them in, and we're just go to chop them, again,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54- similar to your onions, just in rough chunks.- Right, OK.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57I think we're actually, while we're cutting,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59I think the beef can come off.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01OK, so, the beef is off.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04We've got our celery being chopped up, and the pan is still hot,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07so we're going to get these straight in,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09- we're going to get frying straight away.- OK.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12Into your pan, a little bit of vegetable oil.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16- Straight in there with the veggies. - Yes.- Got a bit of cooking going.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18- It smells good.- Oh, it smells so good. Do you know what I can
0:04:18 > 0:04:22- really smell? The celery.- It's pretty strong, isn't it?- Yeah, it's nice.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Do you notice those little bits that have come off at the end of the pan?
0:04:25 > 0:04:27- Yeah.- The little black bits? Don't be worried about them,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30because there's lots of flavour coming from that.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34- Season it with a bit of sea salt and a bit of black pepper.- Right.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37So these have been in here, cooking away, for about four to six minutes,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39just until the onion has softened down.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43And now we can stick our meat straight in there. Right.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Meat's back in. It's been mixed through,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48so now we're going to transfer across to our ovenproof dish.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50OK, so we're just spreading this across the base.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53The great thing about this is that you can lift it straight
0:04:53 > 0:04:55into the oven, no hassle.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57And it's going to cook away quite nicely.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59And now our potatoes
0:04:59 > 0:05:01are what we're going to top this whole recipe with.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05This is good because this is sort of really nice, hearty food, isn't it?
0:05:05 > 0:05:07It's got a sort of feeling of warmth about it.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10It does, it does, and when you take that out of the oven,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13- it is hard to resist.- Yeah.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16So you're looking for nice kind of, I suppose they're about
0:05:16 > 0:05:18- half a centimetre in thickness slices.- Mm-hm.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20So that's kind of what you're after.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23- OK.- How's that look? You can do that?- Yeah.- Go for it.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Again, with potatoes or any kind of big vegetable like that,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29you do need to be careful. Let the knife do all the hard work.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31- Is that good?- Beautiful, beautiful.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34So we're going to stick in, before we put on our potatoes,
0:05:34 > 0:05:35a little bit of stock over the top.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38So I've got some beef stock here, and we're going to share stock
0:05:38 > 0:05:41- if that's all right with you. - OK, I need to know about stock
0:05:41 > 0:05:44- because it's not something I'm used to using in the kitchen.- OK.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46- You said beef stock?- Yeah. - So how many stock cubes?
0:05:46 > 0:05:47So we've got two litres here,
0:05:47 > 0:05:49so there's going to be four stock cubes.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52So about two stock cubes to one litre.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55- Right, OK. Which would be for my one dish.- Exactly, exactly.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58- I'm going to pour yours in for you. - Thank you.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00And do make sure that it's boiling
0:06:00 > 0:06:03- when you pour it in so that it continues to cook through.- OK.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06- So just layer in your potatoes over the top.- That one's a bit thick.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07I'm going to thin that one a bit.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10You don't have to be too particular about this because what's going
0:06:10 > 0:06:13to happen, when this comes out of the oven, your potatoes
0:06:13 > 0:06:16will be soft, and you're taking a nice big spoonful of the potato
0:06:16 > 0:06:19with your meat, with that lovely veggie mix.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21- It's going to be good.- OK.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23- There you go.- That's beautiful. That is beautiful.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26So just dot that with a few knobs of butter.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28So the idea of putting the butter there is that...
0:06:28 > 0:06:29Is that going to make it brown?
0:06:29 > 0:06:32It's going to melt down and give good colour over the top.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34- And crispy.- A bit of crisp. A bit of sea salt and black pepper
0:06:34 > 0:06:37- and then this goes into the oven. - Mm-hm.- We're away.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40This is going to cook up for an hour, and it's going to cook
0:06:40 > 0:06:43at 200 degrees Celsius, and it's going to cook under the tinfoil.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47After an hour, we're going to take off the tinfoil, crisp up
0:06:47 > 0:06:52those potatoes for about 15 minutes and it'll be good to serve.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Now this is the big moment. After an hour and 15 minutes waiting,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58- we get to dive in and try it.- The whole family, looking, staring...
0:06:58 > 0:07:00- The whole family, visualise it. - Waiting.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03So you've got loads of potatoes, you've got that wonderful meat,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05and you get some carrots, and look at that.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07- So we dig in and try some.- Mm-hmm.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10- A bit of meat, a bit of carrot. - Mm!- Mm-mm-mm.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14- It's so nice. This is a winner for the family.- Mm-hmm.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- So you're going to try this? - Mm!- Fantastic.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20So there you go, Irish stew with beef. Very simple to make.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22An hour in the oven. An hour and 15 in the oven,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25- and it's very, very simple. Only a few ingredients.- Great.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28This is definitely going to be one of my weekend dishes.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30- That's what I like to hear. - When I've got a bit of extra time,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Betsy's outside playing in the garden or, walking the dog,
0:07:33 > 0:07:35- and then I can just get busy doing this.- Can I come round?
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Of course you can, you're always welcome. You know that.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41- Thanks very much.- You'd have to clean the kitchen after.- Well...OK.