Carbonnade à la Flamande & Stoemp

Changes to cooler weather, and all the ensuing sniffles that brings. Heartier foods found amongst Belgian cuisine appealed, and so Carbonnade à la Flamande with Stoemp was decided upon. The recipe for the former is a fairly close copy of one found in a book "Everybody Eats Well in Belgium", which I will remember to snaffle a copy of at some point. Stoemp is essentially mashed potato with extra things - I'm probably bending the description a little here. Carbonnade is a (Flemish) Belgian beer and beef stew.

Carbonnade à la Flamande

1 450g pack (half lb) of stewing steak, roughly cubed

1 small onion, finely chopped

Vegetable oil

Butter

Cornflour (or wheat flour if available)

1/2 bottle dark Belgian beer

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 small bay leaf

Black pepper

Seasalt

Hot water/beef stock

2 - 3 tsp redcurrant jelly

Heat the oil and add a little butter to a pan on medium heat. (Use all butter if a stronger flavour is preferred.) Dredge the beef in cornflour before browning it in batches, removing to a bowl until all is done. Scrape up any burnt bits from the pan, and add to the bowl too. (Remove stubborn ones with a little beer to deglaze, if necessary.)

Wipe pan clean, add a little more oil and butter, and sauté onion until a little browned. Then return beef to pan, and stir to heat through.

Add beer to pan, stirring as you go. Bring contents to a simmer, and boil off any alcohol remaining.

Add thyme, bay leaf, pepper and a pinch of seasalt to taste. Stir, then pour enough hot water or beef stock into the pan to completely cover the contents. Bring to a gentle simmer and leave for 45mins - 1hr, or 'til the beef is tender.

Shortly before serving, stir in the redcurrant jelly and adjust to taste. Any cornflour originally used will have broken down by now, so make a cold water cornflour slurry (1 - 2tbsp cornflour) and add to thicken as desired.

Stoemp

2 - 3 baking potatoes

1 carrot

Handful of spinach

Grapeseed oil

Rice milk

Butter or "Pure" spread

Black pepper

Seasalt

Peel and dice the potatoes into large chunks, add to a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Remove when fully cooked.

Very finely dice the carrot, and tear up the spinach leaves. Add carrot to potatoes shortly before the latter are cooked.

When the potato is done, drain and rinse. Return potato and carrot to empty pan, and roughly mash. Splash in a little rice milk and a tsp or two of butter/spread, and combine. Stir in spinach, season with pepper and salt.

Serve Stoemp along with a generous helping of Carbonnade, and enjoy!