It was a fairly horrible day in Carrickfergus, so Beverley decided to cook Carrick Casserole, which is just a casserole that Beverley learned to cook in and around Carrick, as a child. Its a really simple dish but one of its advantages is that the next day you can use it as the base of either a curry or a chilli.

Ingredients - Server 2(leaves leftovers for 2 more servings)

• 600grams beef
• 1 large 0nion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 slices of ginger
• 1 gluten free stock cube
• 1 tin of tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon mixed herbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon of red split lentils
• 1 tablespoon oil

Serve with roasted potatoes and roasted carrots - roasted in olive oil and basil and then glazed with a drizzle of honey.

Method

Chop just over half of the onion quite coarsely, and the remainder finely chopped so that it dissolve into the gravy. Crush the garlic and slice the ginger into fine strips. Once you have your ingredients prepared put some cooking oil into the pot along with the onions and the garlic to cook for a few minutes. When the onions have gone transparent add the ginger, the gluten free stock cube along with the salt and pepper. Now add the tomatoes along with at least one tins worth of extra water. Add some red lentils, then add the meat, making sure that all of the meat is covered by the water.

Now bring you casserole to a rolling boil. Your dish is now ready to go into a Mr. D Thermal Cooker, a slow cooker or the oven on a low heat for two hours. After two hours, you can start cooking your vegetables and cook them for at least 10 minutes. Now finish your vegetables under the grill, or in the oven so that they look nice and golden on your plate.

Serve your vegetables onto the plate and add the casserole straight from the pot.

Top Tip

When you are cooking meat for a long time like you are in Carrick Casserole do not bother browning meat, when your casserole is done, your unbrowned meat will be perfect.