I love the combination of beef, chorizo and red wine all together and so a few weeks ago I decided to write a recipe which would combine this delightful trio with some cheesy potato. The stew element of this dish works with slices of potato or mashed potato (options for cooking both are set out below and are the same amount of points). The stew is equally as delicious served on top of rice or with pasta. It’s a really versatile dish which is utterly delicious. Many people may think of stews as being a wintery dish, but I’ll eat something with chorizo and red wine in any day of the year!! You can add any greens you wish to the dish at the end if you fancy. I’ve served with green beans, broccoli or even a handful of mixed spring greens (steamed). All are lovely additions for 0sp.

Cheesy Potato Topped Beef and Chorizo Ragu

Serves 6 = 13sp per serving on BLUE and GREEN, 10sp on PURPLE

(if you are having the stew without the potato this is 8sp on all plans)

Ingredients

1kg extra lean beef steak, diced

90g chorizo, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

1 onion, peeled and finely sliced

2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced

1 box of chestnut mushrooms, sliced

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced

1 tsp crushed or lazy chillies (extra if you like it spicy)

2 tsp each of paprika and oregano

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

500ml beef stock (made with 1 stock cube)

125ml red wine

2 bay leaves

For the potato top

600g Maris piper potatoes, peeled

½ beef stock cube, crumbled

100g gruyere cheese, finely grated

Method

For the stew – Take a large saucepan with a lid. Spray with 1kal, add the beef, season with salt and pepper and fry to seal the beef (you may need to do this in batches). Remove the beef from the pan.

Spray the same pan again with 1kal, add the onion and chorizo and fry for 5-6 minutes until the onion starts to soften and the chorizo oils release (add a little water to the pan if it starts to get dry). Add the peppers, mushrooms, garlic and crushed chillies and fry for another minute. Add the paprika and oregano, fry for a minute and then add the red wine. Simmer for a few minutes until the wine starts to reduce and then add the tomatoes, stock and bay leaves. Add the beef back to the pan, season, stir and bring to the boil then pop on a lid and reduce to a simmer. At this point you can either simmer the stew on the hob on low for 2 hours (stir regularly) or pop in the oven on 180c for 2 hours. Either way, remove the lid for the last 15 minutes of cooking if the stew needs to thicken up a little.

For the potato top

If you are having mash. Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water for 8-10 minutes (until the potatoes are soft). Then mash (or preferably rice) in a large bowl until nice and smooth. Add the skimmed milk and whip up until the mash is nice and smooth and not too thick in texture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the stew into a large baking dish and then either spread the mash over the top of the stew or pipe on. Crumble over ½ a beef stock cube and then sprinkle over the gruyere and then pop back in the oven (on 180c) for half an hour so the top of the mash goes nice and crispy. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes before you serve.

If you are having potato slices – par boil the potatoes whole in lightly salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes until the potatoes are just starting to soften. Drain the potatoes and leave until they are cool enough to handle. Slice into 1cm rounds and arrange on top of the stew mixture (which should still be in the pan). You should have enough so that they overlap nicely on top (depending on the size of your pan you may even have more than one layer). Season the potato and then crumble over ½ a beef stock cube and sprinkle over the gruyere cheese. Pop in the oven on 180c for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through and are starting to crisp up nicely with the bubbling cheese. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes before you serve.

Serve with greens if you fancy.

Enjoy!