Vietnamese Style Spicy Beef Stew

6 cups cubed stew beef
1 large onion halved and sliced
2 carrots peeled and cut into 1" chunks
2 tbsps Sesame oil
2 tbsps Chilli oil
2 tbsps Five Spice Powder
1 tbsp Cinnamon
3 cloves garlic minced
1 stalk lemongrass bruised and minced
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup gf Tamari sauce
1 tbsp Fresh cracked Black pepper
2-3 tbsps olive oil

Place olive oil in a large pot on medium heat, brown your beef cubes on all sides. Remove meat and set aside. In the same pot add garlic, onions, lemongrass and carrot. Sautee for 2-3 minutes. Add meat back into the pot along with remaining ingredients. Bring the liquid to a boil and turn the heat down to low-medium. Cover with lid. Simmer for 3-4 hours, occasionally stirring, make sure the sauce doesn't  stick to the bottom. Taste and Texture test at 3 hours, cook longer if meat is still tough. Cooking time depends on what cut of meat you buy. When you like the taste and texture of the meat. Turn heat to low. You can thicken the sauce using 1 tbsps of cornstarch mixed with 3 tbsps of cold water. Pour this mixture in the sauce slowly and mix very well to thicken it.

Serve hot with french bread, steamed rice or noodles.

Slow Cooker Chicken & Vegetable Stew

An easy and healthy meal for the family.

Ingredients:
6 pieces bone in chicken thighs
4 cups your choice of chopped veggies
[In this recipe I used celery, carrot, cherry tomatoes, onion, cauliflower, garlic]
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
2 cups water
2 tbsp Montreal steak spice
1 cup cooked pasta [macaroni, bows, shells or use fancy character pastas to make it fun for the kids]

Place all the ingredients except for the pasta in your slow cooker. Turn the temperature to high. If it doesn't all fit. You can either cook the chicken or the vegetables till they're soften first. Then everything should shrink and it will fit in a 6 quart slow cooker.

Once the chicken is cooked and the liquid is simmering. Turn the heat down to low and let it cook for 2-3 hours. The vegetables and liquid should thicken into a chunky sauce. Chicken should fall apart now. Remove the bones and add the precooked pasta. Mix well and warm up the pasta for about 30 minutes in the stew.

Serve hot with garlic toast or on its own.

Bon appetit!

Thai Style Beef & Potato Stew

Ingredients:

1.5kg of cubed lean beef
1 large potato diced (in this recipe I used a yam because I was out of russets)
1 tbsp whole tricolor peppercorns
6 lime leaves sliced to thin fine strips
1" piece of galangal sliced
3 tbsp minced garlic
2 sprigs of Thai basil
2 cups beef stock
2 tbsps of EVOO

Turn the stove to Medium high heat.
In a pot place EVOO and garlic. Stir and cook till slightly golden. Add beef and brown all sides of the meat.
Deglaze the pot with stock scrapping the browned bits off the bottom for added flavour. Stir in the potato and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes and turn down the heat to Medium.

Add peppercorns, lime leaves, galangal, whole basil stalks only, reserve the leaves for later. Stir and combine with stew mixture.

Cook covered at medium heat for 45 minutes to an hour occasionally stirring. Garnish with reserved basil leaves. Serve with rice, noodles or bread.

Enjoy :)