Beef and leek (and cumin) stew

Well, this was something of a desperation throw together on Sunday as I'd bought some beef for casseroling and had some excess leeks. So, with a big thanks to Michelle for the idea of using ground Cumin in heroic quantities, here was the result, which I found really palatable and as I wanted something which just required re-heating for a few days to give me a little break from cooking from scratch every night...

Hing-greedy-ments

• 3 large leeks sliced into 1/4-1/2" slices (including the green bits still in the staff)
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 2 medium sized carrots, sliced (1/8" slices)
• 400 grammes of potatoes, cut into 1/2" chunks
• 440 grammes of casserole steak, sinew removed and cut into 1/2" chunks
• 200 grammes of lardons
• 2 large tomatoes, skinned and deseeded and chopped up
• 3 medium mushrooms, brushed clean and chopped (you guessed) into 1/2" chunks
• 1 bouquet garni
• 1 tbsp of ground Cumin (jeera) (or more - make sure everything has some)!
  
• 3 chillis (50K on Scoville) finely sliced - NOT deseeded
  
• 3 cloves of garlic
• beef stock as needed
• 200 ml of red wine
• Juice of 1 lime
• 10 dashes of Nom Pla (Thai fish sauce)
• 30 grammes of leaf coriander chopped up

In a big casserole,

1. Add the lardons to some sunflower oil and gently fry for a while (ca 2 mins)
2. Then add the beef and continue frying until lightly browned
3. Add the cumin and stir in until every piece of beef has got some
4. Add the onions, garlic, leeks and chillies and carrots and turn over until all coated in oil, fry gently for a minute or so; repeat with the remaining veg
5. Add the red wine, the juice of the lime, the Nom Pla, and top up with the beef stock (a beef bouillon cube will do fine) until almost at the top of the ingredients, add the bouquet garni
   
6. Put the casserole into the oven and cook on Gas Mark 1 for 4 hours;
   
7. Then reheat at GM 4 for an hour when you intend to eat it, adding the coriander with 20 minutes to go.

I shall be doing this one again as it's great for Winter days; no need to cook the potatoes so, if you're health conscious, just add some fresh green veg to round it out. Cumin marvellous!

Update: I did this again, following this recipe last weekend and I can honestly say that I really, really like this - you don't actually need the tomatoes. I reckon also that for my palate a little more Cumin works... (1.5 tbsp next time) .