I can’t believe how quickly it went from being lovely to down-right awful in terms of the weather here in Canberra. We had a few days where the sun was out and you could get laundry dry and the beautiful Autumn leaves were blowing in the wind. And then it was freezing, nothing dried for days even on the indoor dryer with the heating on and all the leaves on the ground were brown and crushed.
When the weather is so miserable, it makes you not want to go outside. And these are the days that are great for long, slow cooking or ‘one-pot-wonders’. Dishes that you can just pop into a pot and leave on the stove or in the oven and forget about {well, don’t forget about it so much that you would leave the house with it still cooking}, until it is ready to eat.
Now I saw that there was a lot of mushroom lovers out there after my ‘What’s in my Kitchen’ post. So I thought that I would share with you my beef and mushroom ‘one-pot-wonder’.
This dish uses a variety of different mushrooms {which all happen to be in season at the moment}.
See if you can get your hands on some Saffron Milk Caps – commonly known as pine mushrooms, saffron milk caps are distinctly vibrant orange in colour with a firm flesh and texture. Sizes vary and can reach up to 25cm in diameter. Due to the delicate nature of the mushrooms’ gills, green bruising is common; often misinterpreted as being old or decaying. Or some Australian Porcinis – Porcini mushrooms originating from Italy are renowned for their flavour and their wild mushroom redolence.
BEEF AND MUSHROOM ‘ONE-POT-WONDER’
750 grams of chuck steak
500 grams of mushrooms
1 bunch of spring onions
2 litres of beef stock
500 grams of Campbell’s Simply Soup – Creamy Mushroom with Beef Stock
2 cloves of garlic
2 swedes
Layer the bottom of a baking dish with cubed swede, sliced garlic, mushrooms and spring onions. Top with the chuck steak and then cover with the beef stock and mushroom soup. Place in a 160 degree oven for 4hrs or until the beef is soft, tender and falling apart.
Remove from the oven, brake up the beef and stir through the one-pot-wonder before serving.
What are some of your favourite ‘one-pot-wonders’? Do you like slow cooking during the colder months? Do you find that preparing the meal earlier in the day works better for you when you have young children? Do you sometimes wish that dinner could just magical appear at 5:30pm/6ish?
