January | 2021 | Aunty G's Kitchen

My husband got me the monthly subscription of the BBC Good Food Magazine for my Xmas present. I love looking at cooking magazines and recipes books and especially the ones which includes beautiful photos so that you can see what the dish looks like.

-I decided to make the Aubergine Arrabbiata Stew from this month’s issue. The recipe is originally promoting the chicken version but you can use the same recipe with aubergines instead.

Ingredients: 2 x tbsp olive oil, 1 x onion thinly sliced, 2 x aubergines cut into 3cm chunks, 2 x garlic cloves crushed, 1 and half tsp chilli flakes, 5 x tbsp sun dried tomato pesto, 250ml vegetarian stock, 1 x can chopped tomatoes, 5 x thyme sprigs,tied, 2 x tsp sugar and and half small bunch of parsley, finely chopped.

For the dumplings: 80g cold butter, cubed, 150g self raising flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 80g parmesan or cheddar grated, 50-60ml milk.

Method:

Heat the oil in a large shallow casserole dish. Fry the onions on low medium heat for 7 mins until soft and turning translucent. Fry the aubergines for 7 mins. Tip the garlic and chilli into the casserole and fry for 1 min. Stir through the pesto, pour in the stock and tomatoes, then add the thyme, sugar and some seasoning. Turn the heat low and cover with a lid. Cook gently for 40 mins. Remove the thyme and check the seasoning.
Heat the oven to GM6 (200C). Make the dumplings by putting the butter, flour, and salt, then rub with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the cheese and pour 50ml of the milk, use a cutlery knife and mix together until you have a soft dough. Add more milk if it’s too dry. Bring the dough together on a work surface and divide into 8 balls.
Arrange the dumplings over the stew. Put the casserole in the oven and bake, uncovered for 25 mins or until the dumplings are doubled in size and golden brown. Scatter the parsley and serve.

This was a delicious stew to make, really flavorsome! I didn’t think my dumplings will turn out ok because it had a weird texture to it! It was really yummy as it was soft and fluffy inside and slightly crunchy at the top! My husband was super impressed as he thought I brought the dumplings from the shop. We ate this stew with some bread! And, next time I will serve it with some green veg!

Happy New Year! This is my 1st post of 2021! Hope you are all well? I will be sharing what I have been cooking and also my husband and I decided to keep our resolution from last year of having a ‘Veggie Day’ once per week. I am excited to learn about new vegetarian dishes every month. In addition, he has mentioned that he will be cooking more this year so let’s see what recipes he comes up with!!!

From our Xmas dinner, we had some left over from the beef joint so I was looking online on what I can cook. I came across this blog – Natasha’s Kitchen and she had a recipe for Beef Stroganoff. I have never made it before and just by chance, I had some double cream and sour cream left over from the Oreo Cheesecake recipe so it would good to use it all up.

I like her blog because it is very clear and includes a video aswell so that you can follow it through. I find it more easier following the video because you can see what they are doing visually and the text instructions makes more sense and you check if the technique is correct or not! Her blogs also includes really attractive photos and tips as well so I am sure I will be referring to her blog again for future recipes! 🙂 She also give you 5 tips to be better cook when you submit your email address so I am excited to see what I can learn!

I made this with pasta, I think it will go well with rice because it has a nice creamy sauce. I felt like I was eating steak as I sliced up the meat quite thick! My poor mum took ages to chew through the meat! Next time, I will definitely slice it up thinner! Lol! It was delicious as the sauce didn’t feel too rich and it was super fast to make, less than 30 minutes!