Fish Sex, Weather and Dinner.

Here’s a strange story. I found on Sunday morning. People in Hampshire, England have been complaining about a noise which is keeping some of them awake at night. After spending lots of time investigating this with no results, it turns out that, in all likelihood, it is being caused by mating Midshipman Fish. The article describes the noise as being like a dial tone which, if you play the video, you will find it really does. If you got a lot of them making that noise I would imagine it could really cause a problem.



The weather doesn’t know what it wants to do at the moment. Saturday morning it was snowing really hard for a while but luckily it didn’t settle on the ground. In the afternoon it was brilliant sunshine. We were slightly worried when we saw the snow as we had dinner guests coming. However, it was fine. Despite a couple of goofs on our part, Matt forgot to put the potatoes in to bake and I, trying to turn up the crock pot actually turned it off, so when I put the dumplings in it wasn’t really hot enough. However, they weren’t too bad and I zapped the potatoes in the microwave for a while and then put them in the toaster oven to finish off. We served Pumpkin Soup, (no crackers, it drives me crazy if I make a soup and someone loads it with crackers, might as well have water), then Steak Elisabetta with Mustard Dumplings finishing off with Almond Rice Pudding. Nobody left anything so I presume they enjoyed the meal.

Here is a recipe which I found at Cooking.com. My original recipe comes from a cookbook I have had for 50 years. Unfortunately the picture is black and white. I have published this recipe before but I am not sure when. The addition of the vinegar and mustard in the stew and the mustard in the dumplings gives it a very interesting flavour. I, of course, use Colman’s dry mustard.

Steak Elisabetta and Mustard Dumplings

Contributed By: Benjamin, CA

Yield: 4 Servings


RECIPE INGREDIENTS
Steak
2 lbs. Chuck steak or similar cut into pieces
2 tbsp. Flour
½ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
1 oz. Shortening (I used Canola oil)
2 Medium onions, peeled and sliced
3 Medium carrots, sliced
¾ pint Stock/red wine/water as preferred
1 tbsp. Vinegar
½ tsp. Dry mustard
Dumplings
4 oz. Self-raising flour
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Dry mustard
2 oz Shredded suet (or 1 oz. butter or substitute)

DIRECTIONS
Steak
Coat meat in flour seasoned with salt, pepper and mustard.
Heat fat in a pan and lightly brown onions and then meat.
Add carrots, stir in stock/wine/water, vinegar and bring to boil.
Turn into a casserole and cook in a slow oven (180 ?) for 1½-2 hrs.
30 mins. before steak is ready, drop dumplings on top of meat, cover tightly and cook for a further 30 mins.
Dumplings
Sift together flour, salt and mustard.
Add suet or rub in butter.
Mix to a dry dough with 3-4 tbsp. cold water, then shape into small balls (they will rise and expand).

Have a great day