Smoky Beef and Chorizo Stew

This stew is one of my all time favourite winter warmer dishes. I know October has only just begun but I'm already excited for stews, pies, soups and all the rest. This recipe takes a long time but is super simple. You can put it on in the morning and just leave it to do its thing.

What you'll need:

• 1kg stewing beef
• 200g chorizo
• 2 onions
• 800g chopped tomatoes
• 400g butter beans
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tbsp red or white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp caster sugar

(Makes 5-6 portions)

Heat your oven to 160c. If it's not cubed already cut the beef into chunks and slice the onions. Mix them together with the tomatoes, spices, and sugar in a casserole dish, cover and cook for 2 and a half hours.

Stir in the beans and chorizo (sliced into rounds) and cook for another 30 minutes with the lid off.

And that's it! Serve with rice, bread or mash, or just by itself. And if I needed to convince you an more it's under 400 calories a portion. Take to work in tupperware and freeze the individual portions for a quick and easy lunch. 

x

Salmon Sushi To Go

I love sushi. I really love sushi. But I've never been too keen on making it. I think I'm just nervous about serving raw fish. But I came across this recipe which you can serve with either raw or cooked salmon so I thought I'd give it a go. 

What you'll need:

• 1 salmon fillet
• 1/4 box of sushi rice
• 1 sheet nori
• 1 avocado
• Wasabi paste
• Soy sauce
• Slice of lime

(Serves 1)

First off, collect your ingredients. There is no such thing as salmon grade sushi. A normal fillet you can buy from the supermarket is fine. If you are eating it raw, freeze it first and then defrost it but for this recipe I think it's better cooked. You can get sushi rice, nori and wasabi in any big supermarket and it normally looks like this:

Cook the rice according to the packet instructions. About a quarter of the box is fine for one person. Usually you cover the rice with water, boil for 10 minutes and then leave with the lid on for half an hour. While that's going on you can cook the salmon. The best way (I think) is to poach it in milk for roughly three minutes on each side. If you throw in a slice of lime as well the milk will split but this is fine.

  

Cut into chunks or flake and put in a normal tupperware with the sushi rice which by now should be nice and sticky.

Mix together the wasabi and the soy sauce in a small water tight tub and keep this separate. This is all a matter of taste, use as much or as little wasabi and you like. Crumble the nori into another small tub and keep the avocado whole until you get to work. 

If there are no mishaps along the way layer rice, nori, avocado and salmon, drizzle over the sauce and you are good to go. 

Let me know if you go for raw or cooked salmon. x

Pinspiration (see what I did there?)

I don't need to tell you guys that Pinterest is the holy grail of the internet. Forget Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Pinterest is what the internet was made for. If you don't know what Pinterest is, where have you been?! It's a place to indulge your wildest fantasies and your store your vast collection of food porn. Effectively it's a place to store all your favourite photos and sites that everyone can share. If you see something cool you 'pin' it to a board and if someone that follows you agrees they will 'repin' it. It's a great way to show your personality online and have a sneak peak at other peoples lives as well.

Your homepage looks something like this. This shows you all the things that the people you follow have pinned, a little like twitter:

Then you have your homepage where you can see and manage all your boards: 

Having different boards is great for planning parties, weddings, gathering interior design inspiration, and drooling over food. One of my favourite boards at the moment is Autumn inspired:

Celebration ideas:

Food porn:

Dream homes:

Style:

I tend to get very carried away and end up pinning for hours. I am a bad pinner though and I follow practically nobody. Leave your links below and I will take a look at all of them, I need some new inspiration! 

You can follow me here. x