Here is the trick to great living, buy contemporary designer jewellery and entertain with hearty home made and simple meals that use basic ingredients but involve lots of time and care. Week night entertaining is perfect for serving up peasant meals: soup or stew with a chunk of home made bread. All doughs will benefit from being left for a slow rise while you are off to work. These give you the great advantage of being able to simmer something all day, without having to worry about it burning.
For a true peasant meal you should use seasonal ingredients that are high quality but affordable. Organic potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots are a great place to start.
Mushroom and Imperial Stout
- 2 packages of mushrooms if you can easily get some more earthy gourmet mushrooms, they will help the stew.
- 2 onions
- butter
- flour
- garlic
Chop the onions and cook in a good knob of butter in a large stock pot until they begin to turn golden, add in a couple of cloves of minced garlic, slice the mushrooms and add them in. Meanwhile in another large stock pot, cook
- 4 chopped potatoes
- 4 chopped carrots
- 2 bay leaves
until the vegetables are tender. When the mushrooms turn golden and begin to give off their liquid, add 3 tablespoons of flour and another knob of butter and cook until well combined. Slowly add the water from the cooked potatoes and bring to a boil. To season you will add
- 1 bottle of Russian Imperial Stout or other good quality porter to taste
- vegetable stock cube or bouillon to taste
- salt and pepper
Add the chopped cooked carrots and potatoes and simmer the whole pot until the flavours are well combined. Serve with home made bread and butter and a green salad.