Stew uprising

The second part of my Halloween cooking programme commenced after what seemed like typhoon had hit the town and the rain had made my windows so wet it felt like the house was a boat sailing through a gale on the high seas. 

Keeping under cover I proceeded to dissect the Pumpkin acquired from a patch on a local farm the week prior and stuck some blues on the player. In this case it was the first disc of Chris Rea's 11 CD, plus one DVD, odyssey through the history of the blues produced as an earbook in 2005 and named "Blue Guitars". What could quite easily have turned into a tiresome vanity project is minted into something quite magic through Rea's clear love of the genre. All 137 songs are written by him and little or no filler is in sight. Each CD deals with one specific genre of the blues and the case of disc one we get songs about the beginnings of the blues in West Africa all of which are primitive but listenable numbers. Check it out yourself if you like at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFW4G6_Ddiy-yew_R7U2IdK2v8ujFq1yo 

So to the recipe for this casserole:

800 grams of Beef Pieces.

2 White Onions, topped, tailed and diced. 

1 Clove of Garlic topped, tailed and diced. 

500 grams of Pumpkin Flesh cut into cubes.

Two sliced up and de-seeded Red Chilli Peppers.

A teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.

6 leaves of Fresh Basil carefully shredded.

6 Tomatoes cut into cubes. 

Half a pint of Beef Stock

100 grams of Red Lentils.

The method goes like this: 

1. Brown the Beef Pieces by shallow frying them in a Le Cresceut dish for around five minutes on a medium heat. 

2. Add the vegetables, herbs, spices and Red Lentils and sweat for a further five minutes. 

3. Add the Beef Stock and put the lid on the Le Cresceut.

4. Place in a pre-heated oven and cook on Gas Mark three for two and a half hours prior to serving. 

There is something very flavoursome that is produced when Tomatoes, Fresh Basil and Pumpkins are combined to make a comforting winter stew. The Beef and Lentils meanwhile made this an even richer meal with plenty of protein to fortify me on an early winter evening.