What I see through my window right now is not very exciting… a very windy, grey, rainy day. I guess I will have to get used to it now as the winter is just around the corner. Instead of complaining, I chose to do something else to cheer me up!! Cooking of course! There is nothing better than a warm tasty dish to bring my smile back when the day is absolutely miserable 
BEEF PUMPUKIN AND GINGER STEW
The last bit I saved for the photo
What a great combination… this stew is absolutely delicious. I have cooked a big pan and ate for days and to be honest, it was much better on the second day than on the first. The meat absorbed the juices and it was delicious.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons plain flour
750g lean stewing beef, diced (I had some Scottish beef at home so that´s what I´ve used it)
25g butter (I used dairy-free spread as I never buy butter!)
3 tablespoons oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 parsnips, sliced
3 bay leaves
several thyme sprigs
2 tablespoons tomato purée
625 g pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into small chunks (it looks like I keep changing the recipe but I had butternut squash at home so why go out to buy pumpkin huh
1 tablespoon dark muscovado sugar
50g fresh root ginger finely chopped
small handful of parsley, chopped, plus extra to garnish
salt and pepper
Season the flour with salt and pepper and use to coat the beef. Melt the butter with the oil in a large saucepan and fry the meat in 2 batches until browned, draining with a slotted spoon.
Add the onion, carrots and parsnips to the saucepan and fry gently for 5 minutes.
Return the meat to the pan and add the herbs and tomato purée. Add just enough water to cover the ingredients and bring slowly to the boil. Reduce the heat to its lowest setting, cover with a lid and simmer very gently for 45 minutes.
Add the pumpkin, sugar, ginger and parsley and cook for a further 30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft and the meat is tender. Check the seasoning and serve scattered with extra parsley.
You can eat on its own but as I am Brazilian and we eat a lot of rice, I couldn´t do it differently and had my stew with rice… but then I ran out of rice on the second day and went for pasta which it may sound very weird…but it did the job! 
This recipe is sooo tasty… you must try it if you want to keep smiling during the winter!!
