Warm My Chills

The cool weather has really set in now and I have to admit that I rather like it. I like scarves and warm coats, heaters and hot drinks and I really like winter food. It's quite lucky that failsafe food lends itself so well to delicious warm meals. Inspiration can be hard to come by in summer, but not winter, far less thought is required to come up with something that hits the spot.

This casserole definitely hit the spot. I have been getting into using the failsafe alcohols for cooking. They can really add a hit of flavour that failsafe cooking often needs. If you don't like to use them, you can leave it out or substitute a bit of stock.

Warm, stodgy, stick to the ribs goodness.

Beef Casserole
Ingredients

• 1.5 kg diced beef
• 1/2 large leek, diced
• small stick celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 swede, diced small
• 1/2 cup french lentils
• 1/4 cup red lentils
• 1/4 cup amaranth, washed very well
• 1/2 cup whiskey
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1-2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C 
2. Put everything except the salt into a large casserole dish cover with lid and place in the oven.
3. After about half an hour (when everything is boiling away) turn down to 120°C and cook for another 1 1/2 hours until the meat is tender.
4. Add salt to taste and serve with mash and steamed vegetables.

That's it! So easy. You could mess around and seal the meat and saute the vegies first, but it really doesn't need it and any leftovers can be used as a pie filling or just tipped over toast.