Ingredients.

1 – 1.5kg of Skirt steak
1 Onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1-2 sticks of celery
1 large carrot
6 large button mushrooms (or Swiss Brown)
1 can of tomotoes
salt and pepper to taste
1 tspn dried basil
1 tspn dried rosemary
2 teaspoons paprika
olive oil
1 tspn of fennel seeds

Method

Cube the skirt steak into cubes the size you want in your stew (about 1 inch sqaure worked well).
Brown all sides of the meat in a very hot pan (I used a cast iron frypan, and some oil). Browning the meat seals in the juices and improves the flavour.
Dice all the vegetables.


Now put some oil in your slow cooker, and add all the ingredients, stir, place the lid on, and set on High for 5 hours, or low for 8-10 hours.


Just before serving you can thicken the stew slightly with 1 Tablespoon of cornflour (corn starch), dissolved in a little water.


Serve with buttered toast (a good dark rye bread works fantastically, but any toasted bread would do).

Gnocchi con funghi e pomodoro

serving suggestion

Ingredients

• 1/2 of a Spanish Onion, finely diced
• 1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced
• 4 rashers of short cut bacon, finely diced
• 1/3 of a salami, finely diced
• 6 large button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 1 tspn dried basil (or equiv fresh)
• 1/2 tspn of dried oregano (or equiv fresh)
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil
• 500g gnocchi

Method

Boil a pot of water of sufficient size to cook your gnocchi, with a couple of heaped teaspoons of salt.
While that is coming to temperature, in a sauté pan, put the olive oil and all the ingredients except the tomatoes and herbs. Sauté for a few minutes until the onion is transparent.
Add the tomatoes and herbs, simmer for approx 15-20 mins.
When the sauce is reduced to your liking, and the water boiled, add the gnocchi to the water and continue to boil. The gnocchi is done when it rises to the surface (about 3-4 minutes).
Serve with pecorino romano cheese.

This is a steamed pudding based loosely on the style of bread puddings made in some parts of 18th Century England. In that vein, the instructions below are almost as vague.

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