Day 127: Beef and red wine hot pot

With Dear Sister’s big day upon us, it was important to get as much as possible done yesterday for today for tomorrow if you know what I mean (please - bear with me!). Effectively, that meant compiling a number of lists. As a champion list-maker and endless buyer of Post-Its in various colours, I had all my lists assembled and colour coded. Tonight, Baby Daughter, Dear Son and I are heading to my parents’ house for the night before the wedding. That’s partly why I needed so many lists. There was the baby pink one for Baby Daughter which detailed all I had to bring for her; there was the blue list for Dear Son which detailed everything I had to bring for him; and then there was the darker pink list for me. I know it’s no wonder that Dear Husband thinks it’s so amusing watching me run about the house like a busy-bee gathering and packing every time we go somewhere. Despite my parents’ house being only 20 minutes away, it’s still a night away that requires the same military logistical planning as going further afield. Lists are my saviour – they save me so much stress because I know exactly what I need, where it is and then it all returns home safely. There’s no such thing as having to make extra journeys for forgotten items which would further add to an already busy day.

Coming home this evening, all I had to do for dinner was pop it into the oven as I actually did all the hard work last night. Yes, I did end up cooking until about 10:30pm but, still, I preferred being able to do it then with the babies in bed rather coming home to start into it this evening. Well, to be honest, I just didn’t have the time to do it this evening. There was so much else to organise. The recipe I chose was Beef and red wine hot pot and it was another one-pot wonder so here’s how it went…

I added olive oil to my large casserole dish and then added mushrooms which I seasoned and fried for 3 minutes. I then took them out and put them on a plate before adding more olive oil to the dish and sautéing onions and garlic with seasoning for 5 minutes. Next, it was time to add the stewed beef, two teaspoons of fresh thyme and 150ml of red wine. Once it came up to the boil, I popped the lid on and into the oven the dish went for 1.5 hours. At that point, I took the dish out of the oven, stirred in the cooked mushrooms, placed sliced potatoes on top, added more seasoning and dotted butter on top of the potatoes. Lastly, I scattered another teaspoon of thyme over the top. Back into the oven the dish went for another 35 minutes.

The verdict…

It was only when I was typing up tonight’s post that I realised that I should have left the lid off for the second stint in the oven. That way my dish would have resembled the picture in the cookbook rather than looking like it was the dish before going into the oven. To be fair, the potatoes were slightly more golden than the rather pale colour that they look in my photo. Despite that, Dear Husband really, really enjoyed this dish and gave it 9 marks out of 10. He said the meat was very tender and was extremely tasty.

Will I make this dish again? Yes. It was a very simple dish to prepare but I will admit it took me nearer to 35 minutes to prepare instead of the 15 stated in the cookbook. Still, any dish that scores nine marks has to feature on The List. So on the high note, I am going to sign off as time is a ticking and I have to get Baby Daughter to bed at a reasonable time in Nana’s and I need some beauty sleep myself. Until tomorrow, enjoy the start of your weekend…

Of course, major congestion on my congestion-free broadband so, after 30 minutes of trying to upload the pic, it will have to follow tomorrow - sorry!!!