rycuda/beef, beer and chorizo stew.txt

## beef, beer and chorizo stew.txt
550g ish of beef shin,
whole chorizo link 225g there abouts,
three large carrots,
two large parsnips,
two fist sized turnips,
one of those half swedes that s'bries and tesco do,
bag of smallish new spuds 750g (ish),
two medium-large leeks,
couple of big onions,
200g bag of kale,
bulb or so of garlic 750ml of meantime ale's london porter.
beef stock cube (I used a knorr stock pot)
boiling water (maybe quite a lot of this, just boil a kettle)

Give the onion a medium dice, slice the leeks in half lengthwise then slice them into half rounds, either finely chop the garlic, crush it, or be lazy and buy the frozen stuff pre diced (about a handful of it if you do). Chop all the root veg, the chorizo and the beef into ~3/4-1inch cubes.
Brown the beef in the bottom of a 6L stock pot, once it's properly browned on all sides drop the head down to medium, medium/high toss in the chorizo (if it's too hot it'll smoke from the chorizo fat), when the fat in the bottom of the pan starts to look red from the chorizo toss in the onion, leek and garlic stir it around till the leek's gone soft and the onion's going clear. Take a swig or two from the beer, then pour in the rest, load the pan up with as much of the chopped veg as you can, (I had to force the lid down on mine to get the sodding thing to fit). Stir the stock cube into some boiling water in a jug or something till it's dissolved, pour into the pot. Top the pot up with the water from the kettle till there's a good amount in there, I did mine up about 3/4 of the way up the side.
Your cooking time from here is about an hour and a half. I stir it about every 15 minutes. There'll be a point half way through where the veg starts to soften and everything will sink down a bit, you'll need to turn the temperature down at this point else it will start to boil and you want it at most to be gently bubbling. When it does this is also the point that you'll have enough room for the kale, so toss it in and stir it into the stew (again, I had to use the lid to ram it down enough, and then let it cook down a bit before I could stir it in).
Hour and a half later the veg should be properly cooked down, the beef should be melt in your mouth tender and the chorizo should have given everything in there a gentle warmth. Turn the heat off, give it a final stir and let it sit a bit.

Makes about 6 generous portions. (I find portions of that size reheat in about 4 minutes in a decent microwave)
	550g ish of beef shin,
	whole chorizo link 225g there abouts,
	three large carrots,
	two large parsnips,
	two fist sized turnips,
	one of those half swedes that s'bries and tesco do,
	bag of smallish new spuds 750g (ish),
	two medium-large leeks,
	couple of big onions,
	200g bag of kale,
	bulb or so of garlic 750ml of meantime ale's london porter.
	beef stock cube (I used a knorr stock pot)
	boiling water (maybe quite a lot of this, just boil a kettle)

	Give the onion a medium dice, slice the leeks in half lengthwise then slice them into half rounds, either finely chop the garlic, crush it, or be lazy and buy the frozen stuff pre diced (about a handful of it if you do). Chop all the root veg, the chorizo and the beef into ~3/4-1inch cubes.
	Brown the beef in the bottom of a 6L stock pot, once it's properly browned on all sides drop the head down to medium, medium/high toss in the chorizo (if it's too hot it'll smoke from the chorizo fat), when the fat in the bottom of the pan starts to look red from the chorizo toss in the onion, leek and garlic stir it around till the leek's gone soft and the onion's going clear. Take a swig or two from the beer, then pour in the rest, load the pan up with as much of the chopped veg as you can, (I had to force the lid down on mine to get the sodding thing to fit). Stir the stock cube into some boiling water in a jug or something till it's dissolved, pour into the pot. Top the pot up with the water from the kettle till there's a good amount in there, I did mine up about 3/4 of the way up the side.
	Your cooking time from here is about an hour and a half. I stir it about every 15 minutes. There'll be a point half way through where the veg starts to soften and everything will sink down a bit, you'll need to turn the temperature down at this point else it will start to boil and you want it at most to be gently bubbling. When it does this is also the point that you'll have enough room for the kale, so toss it in and stir it into the stew (again, I had to use the lid to ram it down enough, and then let it cook down a bit before I could stir it in).
	Hour and a half later the veg should be properly cooked down, the beef should be melt in your mouth tender and the chorizo should have given everything in there a gentle warmth. Turn the heat off, give it a final stir and let it sit a bit.

	Makes about 6 generous portions. (I find portions of that size reheat in about 4 minutes in a decent microwave)