Bacon and Winter Vegetables in White Wine

This week, we’re eating up everything in the freezer in the hopes of saving a bit of money after Christmas. Tonight, it looks like pasta bake with tomatoes and homemade root vegetable soup for starters. Having said that, until it’s defrosted and I can actually get into it, it could be mince and home-made stock! The excitement is becoming too much to bear!

As for this meal, all it really consists of is a ‘bottom of the fridge’ combination: one of my specialities! Other recipes include Spanish Omelette and Mediterranean Chicken.  It was one I knocked together last week from the many Christmas leftover vegetables.

Ingredients:

Any meat – I used chopped bacon

Any veg. – I used shallots, new potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sprouts and leeks

Chicken stock

White wine

Plain flour

salt and pepper

Pour a little olive oil into a pan and fry off the meat until browned but not cooked through (unless it’s bacon, in which case, fry until crispy!) Remove from the pan.

Use the meat residue to fry off the chopped vegetables.

Return meat to the pan and season well. Pour over a large glass of white wine and let sizzle.

Stir in a tablespoon of flour to coat everything and add the stock.

Let it bubble away until the meat is cooked through, I put a dampened cartouche on top to stop the juices evaporating, and serve in large bowls with dumplings.

It certainly did the trick of warming us up on these cold winter evenings and, having never made it before, would certainly make it again. A quick an easy tea-time treat, especially if you use Aunt Bessie's ‘in the freezer’ dumplings instead of making your own!