Aberdeen Angus Beef Stew with Mushrooms and Shallotts

Product Review*: Aberdeen Angus Diced Casserole Steak

Cooked into Aberdeen Angus Beef Stew

A few weeks ago, I was sent some products for review by Damn Delicious.  Tonight, I cooked the last of the products I was sent for review by Damn Delicious: The Aberdeen Angus Casserole Steak.

You can view my reviews of their other products at the following links: Aberdeen Angus Steak Pie, Aberdeen Angus Steak Mince & Aberdeen Angus Steak (plus Pork Chops).

 

Aberdeen Angus Beef Stew

Ingredients (for 4 people):

  • 460g (1 pack) Aberdeen Angus diced casserole steak
  • 4 carrots, scraped & sliced
  • 10 echalion shallots, peeled & kept whole
  • 240g shitake mushrooms, cleaned (halve or quarter the larger ones, leave smaller ones whole)
  • 500ml beef stock (I used 1x Knorr Rich Beef Stockpot with 500ml water, but you can use any good quality stock cube, too)
  • 2tbsp plain flour
  • 100ml red wine
  • olive oil (enough for shallow-frying in a good non-stick pan)
  • fine sea salt
  • freshly-ground black pepper

Method:

Tip: I used a slow cooker for this and set it onto ‘Auto’.  If you wish to cook this recipe in the oven, reduce the cooking time (approx 2-3 hours) and cook in a casserole dish in a low temperature (approx. 150°C) oven. You may have to experiment with this as an oven is less forgiving than a slow-cooker.

Place the sliced carrots in the slow-cooker.

Shallow-fry the mushrooms in a little olive oil, then add them to the carrots in the slow-cooker, retaining any juices/oil in the pan.  Do the same with the shallotts – don’t fry them for long, just enough for the skins to start browning and blistering.

Brown the meat in the frying pan (add a little oil if needed) and season generously with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper while you do this.   Once the meat is browned, add the flour and stir, then pour in the wine.  The flour will start thickening the wine into a sauce fairly quickly, so once it’s stirred and lump free, transfer everything into the slow-cooker.

Use the beef stock to ‘clean’ any residual flour/wine sauce from the frying pan and add this to the slow-cooker.

Stir, cover & cook on ‘Auto’ for approximately 5 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes.  YUM!

Aberdeen Angus Beef Stew – Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Good!

 

THE REVIEW:

The casserole steak was very, very tasty and beautifully tender.  It melted in our mouths and was just packed full of rich flavour.

We are big meat eaters in our family, so for a stew/casserole, I would generally buy shin of beef and buy a bigger quantity than the 460g you get for £5.99, BUT it does feel deliciously indulgent and luxurious to make a stew with such high quality meat as this Aberdeen Angus Casserole Steak!  Also, whilst I tend to prefer slightly fattier meat in my stew, this Aberdeen Angus was very lean, which half of my family prefers.  It IS healthier and you get more meat (rather than fat!) for your money.

The packaging was simple and effective, minimising waste.  The quantity easily served 4 hungry people.  I did find that the ‘chunks’ were rather large, so before I used them, I cut some of them into half and some even into three.  This didn’t exactly take long as the meat was so tender that the knife glided through it effortlessly!

Overall, this was another fantastic meat product from Damn Delicious and if you can afford the indulgence and like lean steak in your casserole, I definitely recommend it.  Enjoy!

 

*About my reviews:

I received these products free of charge with a request to review them on my blog.  This is an honest product review and reflects my opinion (and those of my family members, who have also sampled the products).  I did not receive any payment in exchange for the review.  If you would like me to review your products, please contact me via Twitter, Facebook or E-mail in the first instance. Thank you 🙂

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Review | POM Wonderful | New Flavour

POM Wonderful

Pomegranate & Cloudy Apple

I was already a fan of POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice, so was delighted to be offered the opportunity to review* the new flavour: Pomegranate & Cloudy Apple!

POM Pomwonderful Pomegranate and Cloudy Apple Juice | Review

I usually try to make sure my reviews are not too ‘gushing’ and if there are points for improvement, I mention them.  In this case, I really can’t find anything I’d like to change about the product – other than perhaps I’d like a bottomless bottle! 😉

Pomegranate juice has a particular taste that perhaps doesn’t appeal to everyone.  It manages to be at once crisp while also being deliciously sweet.  It’s this combination that gives it its great thirst-quenching taste.

Additionally, pomegranates are full of goodness and POM Wonderful juices are made from 100% fruit concentrates with no added sugar.

You can see in the photo above that the cloudiness from the cloudy apple juice added to this new variety comes through in the blended juice.  The cloudy apple juice adds an extra flavour dimension / more depth to the juice.

POM Wonderful really is wonderful; crisp, sweet, thirst-quenching.  I can’t say anything further about it.

This new Pomegranate & Cloudy Apple flavour is currently available from Tesco, RSP 3.56 for 710ml bottle.

For more information, visit www.pomwonderful.co.uk

*I have received this product free of charge with a request to review it on my blog.  This is an honest product review and reflects my opinion (and those of my family members, who have also sampled the products).  I did not receive any payment in exchange for the review.  If you would like me to review a product (or recipe) for you, please e-mail me in the first instance.  Thank you.

Review | Damn Delicious | Aberdeen Angus Steak and more

Review* of Damn Delicious Products:

Aberdeen Angus Steak Mince | Aberdeen Angus Sirloin Steaks | Free Range Loin Pork Chops

I was sent an amazing array of foodie goodies (see my review of the Steak Pie here) by Damn Delicious not so long ago, so I was absolutely delighted to have the bank holiday weekend and gloriously good weather to sample the above products as part of a family BBQ!

Steak Mince

I made this into really simple burgers – see recipe here.

The Aberdeen Angus Steak mince was like no other minced beef I’ve had before.  It was almost ‘gamey’ in its depth of flavour.  The burgers came out beautifully moist and tasty.  The Steak Mince was an absolute delight and treat.

I think that, at £4.19 for 400g, this represents good value, though perhaps not something I would indulge in every day.

Damn Delicious | Aberdeen Angus Steak Burgers | Free Range Pork Loin Chops
The Loin Pork Chops and Burgers cooking on the BBQ
Loin Pork Chops

These were amazing!  I don’t generally buy pork chops because I am not a huge fan of the relatively dry meat, but these already looked amazing before we started cooking them.  Ok, I know it’s wrong, but one of my daughters and I are HUGE fans of the fatty parts of the meat.  The fat on these on-the-bone Loin Pork Chops were unlike anything I’d ever eaten before!  The fat crisped up perfectly and had an almost sweet, caramelised flavour to it that I’d never experienced in any pork chop before.  My taste-buds were in rapture! The whole family loved these!  Although they may feel a bit indulgent and expensive at £5.52 for 2 chops, these were HUGE.  They were really thick and, being on the bone, absolutely jam-packed with flavour.  I still find the meat on a pork chop a bit dry (which is why I tend to eat shoulder steaks, generally), but these were the least dry I’d ever tasted.  The bone & thick, juicy, crispy, sweet-tasting layer of fat more than made up for that.  I would definitely have these again!

Free Range Pork Loin Chops | Damn Delicious
Pork Loin Chops on the BBQ
Aberdeen Angus Beef Sirloin Steaks

We’re big steak fans in our family, so sampling these for review was an absolute treat!!

We cooked the steaks on the BBQ, leaving them ‘blue’, the way we like our steaks.  What can I say…they were juicy and exquisitely tender – the knife went through them like a hot knife through butter.  The depth and richness of the flavour was heavenly.  There was plenty of fat for those of us that love it (and it was easy enough to remove for those of us that don’t).  These retail at £11.25 for two steaks, so definitely not an everyday meal, but then if you’re going to have a steak, you might as well indulge and treat yourself to the great quality & taste!

Aberdeen Angus Sirloin Steaks | Damn Delicious
Sirloin Steaks on the BBQ
Overall

All products came by courier in an insulated box containing ice blocks.  The meat was still very much chilled when it arrived and the packaging included clear instructions to say it could be frozen on the day of receipt.

The packaging was clear & simple – all products above were vacuum-sealed with simple labelling.  Perfect to wet the appetite, take up minimal space in your freezer and so it’s obvious what’s inside.

The flavour absolutely shone through in all the above products.  They were succulent and tasty.  I was impressed!

*About my reviews:

I received these products free of charge with a request to review them on my blog.  This is an honest product review and reflects my opinion (and those of my family members, who have also sampled the products).  I did not receive any payment in exchange for the review.  If you would like me to review your products, please contact me via Twitter, Facebook or E-mail in the first instance. Thank you 🙂