FEIJOADA – BRAZILIAN BLACK BEAN STEW
with chorizo and smoked pork
SECO DE CORDERO – PERUVIAN LAMB STEW
with coriander and beer
TOMATICAN
Pork stewed in tomatoes, oregano and cumin with fresh sweetcorn
SUCCOTASH
of sweetcorn, butternut squash and broad beans
We all grew up on baked beans, but this is the real thing! I cooked this recipe for one of the ‘stew parties’ I threw to help me choose which recipes to include in the book. My intrepid tasters described it as ‘baked beans for adults’ and just like ‘cowboy food’. Take their word for it – it’s superb.
Serves 4–6
400g dried haricot beans
3 onions, quartered
5 cloves
60g muscovado sugar
50g black treacle
50g ketchup
1 tbsp English mustard (made from powder)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
800g pork belly, rind removed and cut into 3–4cm cubes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Soak the haricot beans overnight, covered with at least 8cm of water.
The next day, preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Fan 150ºC/gas mark 3. Rinse the soaked beans and put them in a heavy based, ovenproof pan that has a lid. Cover with 5cm of water, bring to simmering point and cook for about 40 minutes until nearly tender. Top up with a little boiling water if it looks too dry (you want the beans to be covered at all times).
Stud the onion quarters with the cloves and add these to the pot with the sugar, treacle, ketchup, mustard, vinegar, pork and some grinds of the pepper mill (don’t add salt at this stage as it can toughen the beans). Pop the pan, with the lid on, into the oven for 2½–3 hours until the beans are creamy and soft and the pork completely tender. You may need to remove the lid for the final 30 minutes to drive off most of the remaining liquid. Give it a taste for saltiness, and season according to your taste buds.
Serve with nothing more than some crusty bread and a salad.
Boston Baked Beans
Clearly a cousin of Spanish paella, jambalaya (here) also has the hallmarks of French and Caribbean cuisine. There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules as to how to make a jambalaya; this version, also known as Creole jambalaya, uses tomatoes to give colour and flavour to the rice. A variety of meats can be used as this dish was traditionally poor man’s food, made with pretty much any meat you could find – from alligator to turtle. This recipe makes life easy using chicken thighs, prawns and chorizo sausage.
Serves 4–6
2 tbsp olive oil
150g mild cooking chorizo, sliced
4 chicken thighs (about 500g in total), skin on
3 bay leaves
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large red pepper, cut into quarters lengthways then sliced into 5mm strips
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 long hot red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
2 pinches of ground cloves
250g tinned chopped tomatoes
700ml chicken stock (you may need a little more)
8 large prawns (about 150g), shell on but heads removed and reserved
salt and freshly ground black pepper
300g long grain rice
3 spring onions, finely chopped
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
juice of ½ lemon
To serve:
lemon wedges
chopped fresh parsley
Heat the oil in a wide, fairly deep pan that has a lid. Add the chorizo slices and cook for a couple of minutes until the chorizo lets out its paprika oils and starts to brown a little. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve for later.
Season the chicken thighs and add to the hot oil, skin-side down, along with the bay leaves and cook for 5–7 minutes on a moderate heat until golden brown. Then turn over the thighs and cook them on the other side for a minute to seal before removing and setting aside on a plate.
Add the onion, red pepper, celery, chilli, garlic and thyme to the pan and cook gently for 10 minutes until the peppers and onions have softened. Add the ground cloves and cook for another couple of minutes, then mix in the tomatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes until the tomatoes have turned pulpy.
Add the chicken stock, the reserved prawn heads and a few pinches of salt and grinds of black pepper. Give it all a good stir and bring to simmering point. Now return the chorizo (and any oils that have tried to escape) as well as the chicken (and any juices that have collected) to the pan. Cover with a lid and simmer gently for 25 minutes to cook the chicken through.
Remove the prawn heads and taste for seasoning; now is the time to add a little more salt if you think it is needed. Add the rice to the pan, stirring it around to distribute it evenly. Cover again with the lid and cook for 20 minutes. Give it a stir every 5 minutes or so. If it’s looking at all dry, add a little water – the jambalaya is meant to be quite moist.
Once the 20 minutes is up, mix in the raw prawns, replace the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Finally, stir through the chopped spring onions and parsley and squeeze over the lemon juice. Serve in a deep bowl with lemon wedges and some more parsley scattered over.
Feijoada (here) is a national dish of Brazil. When I was on the markets selling stews, a Brazilian lady sold pies next to me. She always said I should try making feijoada and I’m pleased I did! A variety of meats are often used but here things are kept simple with some smoked gammon, cooking chorizo and pork shoulder. Few other ingredients give a stew such a colour as black beans, but don’t be put off – it’ll taste delicious!
Serves 4–6
400g dried black beans
2 bay leaves
200g cooking chorizo sausages, cut into large chunks
200g pork shoulder, cut into 3–4cm pieces
350g smoked gammon (rind removed), cut into 3–4cm pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
100g smoked lardons
2 onions, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
To serve:
2 oranges, sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Soak the black beans overnight, covered with at least 8cm of water.
The next day, rinse and drain the soaked beans and put them in a large heavy based pan. Cover with 5cm of water, add the bay leaves, bring to simmering point and cook for 1¼ hours. Add the chorizo, pork and smoked gammon to the pan along with a few grinds of the pepper mill, then continue to cook on the hob, uncovered, on a low heat for a further 1½ hours, by which time the beans should have softened.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, brown the lardons and then add the onions. Cook gently for 10–12 minutes until the onions are starting to colour, then add the chopped garlic for another couple of minutes. Once nicely coloured, take a few spoonfuls of the softened black beans and mash them into the onion mixture. Tip the mixture into the pot with the rest of the cooking pork and black beans (this will help the liquor to thicken) and continue cooking for a further 30–40 minutes until the beans are starting to break down and the meat is completely tender. Taste for seasoning as you may not need any salt depending on how salty your chorizo is.
Serve accompanied by slices of orange and some chopped coriander.
Feijoada – Brazilian Black Bean Stew with chorizo and smoked pork; Chicken and Prawn Jambalaya
There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to clam chowder; you either go for the ‘tomatoey’ version from Manhattan or the creamy version from New England. I’ve gone for the creamy version as recommended by Sandy, the American mother of a friend who made this for me once when I stayed at their house.
Serves 4
30g butter
60g streaky bacon, cut into 5mm strips
1 onion, finely sliced
1 leek, finely sliced
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp plain flour
600g medium floury potatoes (about 4 medium potatoes), peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
500ml milk
1kg clams, scrubbed and cleaned
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp double cream
a handful of finely chopped chives
Melt the butter in a heavy pan, then gently brown the bacon for about 5 minutes, taking care not to burn the butter. Add the onion and leek as well as the bay leaf and cook gently with the lid on the pan for about 15 minutes until the onions and leeks are very soft.
Add the flour and stir well. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes before adding the potatoes and then the milk to the pan – the milk should cover the potatoes. Bring back to simmering point and cook gently for 15–20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Make sure you stir the pan regularly, otherwise things have a tendency to stick.
Meanwhile, put the clams in a separate deep pan with a splash of water. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5–10 minutes until the clams have opened. Once cooked, allow them to cool a little before removing the meat from the shells. Discard any shells that have not opened. Strain the liquor through a sieve lined with kitchen paper (to remove all the grit) and set aside.
Once the potatoes are cooked, add the clam meat and the strained clam liquor to them and bring back to simmering point. Taste before adding salt (if needed) and black pepper. Finish the chowder by stirring through the cream and chopped chives.
Serves 4
3 tbsp olive oil
900g lamb shoulder, excess fat removed and cut into 3–4cm cubes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 red onions, finely sliced
8 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 hot fresh chilli, finely sliced (include seeds)
1½ tsp ground cumin
400ml beer
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 large bunch coriander (about 140g), stems removed and tied with a piece of string
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
400g potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
Heat the oil in a casserole dish that has a lid, season the lamb with salt and black pepper and brown the pieces in the hot oil, in batches, for about 5 minutes. Set aside the browned meat in a bowl.
Throw the onions into the pan, adding a little more oil and a splash of water if it feels too dry. Cook gently for about 10 minutes until the onions have softened. Then add the garlic, chilli and cumin and continue to cook for another couple of minutes.
Add the beer, vinegar, the tied coriander stalks, tomatoes and some salt and black pepper to the pan. Give it all a good stir and finally add the browned lamb and any juices to the pan. Cook gently for 1¼ hours with the lid of the pan set on a slight slant to let some steam escape.
After 1¼ hours, remove the coriander stalks from the pan and add the potatoes, pushing the pieces into the stew. Continue cooking gently for a further 30 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. You’re after a fairly thick sauce, so if it’s looking a little liquid, finish the cooking with the lid off.
Once the potatoes are cooked and the lamb is tender, finely chop the leaves from the coriander and stir them through the stew. Check for seasoning, adding some more salt and black pepper if it needs it.
You can’t buy a good chilli in the shops, so I say make it yourself. Thanks go to my friend Sally who suggested the addition of some honey or maple syrup to the recipe. If you can’t find chipotle chillies, don’t worry, simply replace them with a teaspoon of smoked paprika.
Serves 6
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 cinnamon stick
½–1 tsp cayenne pepper (you can add less if you don’t want it so hot)
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground allspice
4 chipotle chillies, about 10g
900g beef chuck steak, cut into 3–4cm pieces
400g tin chopped tomatoes
60g tomato purée
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
1 green pepper, roughly chopped
500ml water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
20g plain chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids – I used Divine)
To serve:
fresh lime juice
chopped fresh coriander
Preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Fan 150ºC/gas mark 3. Heat the oil in a heavy based, flameproof casserole dish that has a lid and brown the pieces of beef for 3–4 minutes in batches. Once well browned, transfer to a bowl.
Add the onions to the pan. When soft and translucent, after about 10 minutes, add the garlic, cinnamon stick, cayenne pepper, oregano, cumin, chipotle chillies and allspice. Cook for a couple of minutes, adding a little more oil if it feels too dry.
Next add the tomatoes, tomato purée, maple syrup (or honey), red and green peppers, and water. Mix everything well and season liberally with salt and black pepper. Add the browned meat together with any juices that have collected and bring to a simmer. Now pop the pan in the oven with its lid on for 3 hours.
After the long wait, add the kidney beans and cook for another 30 minutes or so with the lid off. Once the chilli has thickened, stir in the chocolate and taste for seasoning. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lime, some chopped coriander and grated Cheddar alongside some fluffy rice.
This recipe comes from my friend Christie’s mum (Christie was chief stew-potter in the early days of making stews for the markets). It’s a real family heirloom that has been handed down through a couple of generations. I have to confess, I’d never heard of this stew until Christie submitted it as a potential for the cookbook. This is one of those life-saver recipes when you have to rustle something up pretty quick.
Serves 4–6
juice of 3 limes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 chicken thighs (about 1kg in total), skin on
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 long mild red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped or ½ tin chopped tomatoes
150ml coconut milk
50g skinless peanuts, finely chopped*
100g shelled raw prawns (optional)
To serve:
some lime wedges and chopped fresh coriander
Mix half the lime juice with a few pinches of salt in a bowl. Add the chicken and rub the marinade over the thighs. Cover and leave for 30 minutes to an hour.
Heat the oil in a deep, non-stick frying pan or in a flameproof casserole dish. Shake off any excess marinade and fry the chicken, skin-side down, for 5–7 minutes or until golden brown (do this in batches if you need to). Turn them over and seal the other side for about a minute. Set aside the browned pieces on a plate.
Fry the onion and red pepper in the same pan for 10–12 minutes until soft and the onions are starting to turn brown, then add the garlic and chilli and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally before adding the tomatoes. Cook for another 10 minutes before finally adding the coconut milk, peanuts, black pepper and a couple of good pinches of salt to the pan. Give everything a good stir and then plop the pieces of chicken back in, skin-side up, along with any juices that may have collected.
Cook on a medium heat for 30–40 minutes until the chicken has cooked and the sauce reduced. If you decide to make the dish with the addition of prawns, add them about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
When the chicken is cooked, mix in the remaining lime juice and taste for seasoning. Serve with lime wedges and a sprinkling of chopped coriander alongside some steamed rice.
* You can buy skinless peanuts in most Asian supermarkets. However, if you have trouble finding them, buy ones with skins on, bake them in the oven at 190ºC/375ºF/Fan 180ºC/gas mark 5 for about 5 minutes until they start popping. Once the peanuts have cooled a little you’ll be able to remove the skins by rubbing them vigorously in a tea towel. Hopefully you can save yourself the hassle by finding some in the shops!
Tip – The chicken can be replaced with chunks of white fish. Marinate the fish in the same way as the chicken, then follow the instructions above from the onion cooking onwards. After the sauce part of the stew has been cooking gently for about 20 minutes, add your fish and prawns, if using.
My Argentinean friend, Andrea, introduced me to this stew. It’s a really good one for summer as it’s quite light and great served at room temperature as well as direct from the hob.
Serves 6
4 tbsp olive oil
1kg pork shoulder, cut into 3–4cm pieces
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 tsp dried oregano (more if using it fresh)
2 tsp ground cumin
900g cherry tomatoes, halved
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 corn cobs – 2 with the kernels sliced off, 1 cut into 6 pieces
sugar (if needed)
To serve:
chopped fresh coriander
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
Heat the oil in a wide saucepan that has a lid, then brown the pork in batches and set aside in a bowl.
Add the onions to the pan with a splash of water and some more oil if it’s looking too dry. Cook gently for 10–15 minutes until very soft and starting to brown at the edges. Add the garlic, oregano and cumin and cook for a couple of minutes, then throw in the tomatoes and let them break down on a moderate heat for 5–10 minutes before returning the pork and any juices to the pan. Stir through a good few pinches of salt and some grinds of black pepper. Cover with the lid and cook gently for 1–1½ hours until the pork is tender.
Once the meat is tender, stir in the corn kernels and the cob pieces and cook, without the lid, for another 5–10 minutes until the corn is done.
Taste for seasoning; if your tomatoes were quite acidic you may need to add a little sugar to balance this. Serve garnished with some chopped coriander and a few chilli slices.
Tomatican
Pork stewed in tomatoes, oregano and cumin with fresh sweetcorn
Succotash is a traditional dish of native Americans that always consisted of sweetcorn kernels and usually broad beans. This adaptation adds some sweet butternut squash and soured cream to the recipe, creating a delicious, fresh, sweet vegetable stew that’s great either hot or served at room temperature.
Serves 4
50g butter
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 red pepper, quartered, deseeded and cut into 5mm slices
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g peeled butternut squash, diced into 1½cm pieces (try to find top-quality, extra-sweet squash)
200ml vegetable stock
kernels from 3 corn cobs
200g fresh young broad beans (if you can’t find fresh, then frozen peas work quite well, albeit rather smaller), cooked
3 spring onions, finely sliced
3–4 tbsp soured cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Melt the butter in a wide pan that has a lid. Add the onion and red pepper and cook gently for 10 minutes until the onion has softened. Then add the garlic and butternut squash. Cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the stock and cover the pan with a lid. Cook gently for about 3 minutes. Now add the corn kernels and cover again, continuing to cook for about 5 minutes until the corn is tender and the squash has cooked through. Stir through the broad beans (or peas) and two-thirds of the spring onions to warm through. Finish by stirring in the soured cream, adding salt and black pepper to taste and sprinkling with the remaining spring onions.
Perfect with some crusty bread.
