Beef Stew – Quick & Slow

I’ve bought a slow cooker, to prep meals for when we all come home at night.  First day I made the fastest slow cooked meal ever – before going to work I loaded the cooker in about 5 mins and turned it on. Got back at 6 to a stew all ready to eat. Yessss!

1lb lean beef
1 large Onion , diced
2 large carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 can plum tomatoes
1 can equiv of water

seasoning.

Set on low for 8 hrs – might need to thicken the sauce a spot.

Beef Goulash / Gulyas – Hungarian

serves 4-ish

1 kg stewing beef in 1″ cubes
4 big/spanish onions, chopped
4-6 smoked streaky bacon slices- diced, or a few lardons.
3-4 tablespoons sweet smoked paprika
salt, pepper to taste
1 green pepper, diced
1 tomato
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp sugar
oil to fry beef with

Seal the beef a few cubes at a time to get some colour on it without drying it out. keep the beef in a bowl until ready to add it back in. (a spot of water to deglaze the pan in between batches works, save the water with the beef.

Fry off the bacon/lardons then add the onion till the onions are soft. Take off the heat for a couple of minutes and add the paprika, and browned beef + deglaze. Mix it all up.

Add enough water to cover the meat (not too much – the consistency you want the sauce) Add the diced green pepper, the whole tomato (it melts, along with the onions and pepper – no point dicing).  Add the salt & pepper too – but don’t over do it, you can season it fully at the end.

Simmer covered on very low heat for about 2-3 hours. Check, every now and then that it’s not getting too dry or sticking on the bottom. Once its cooked up, add some lemon juice for a spot of tang, salt/pepper to taste and a teaspoon of sugar if needed.

You can cook dumplings on the top if you like. Serve with mash, a dollop of sour cream, and a chopped green herb of your choice.

Italian Beef Meatballs

500g Mince beef
3-4 slices smoked bacon, finely chopped or minced
1 slice of bread (soaked in water)
about 1cm x 1cm x 2cm chunk of parasan, grated
1/2 onion, grated
1 large clove of garlic, grated/minced
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tblspn herbs – a mix of oregano, parsley, margarum

put it all in a bowl and mix with your hands. make sure everything is well mixed.
Once done, break into meatballs and either fry or roast. Add to a marinara or arabietta sauce and serve with pasta.

Cornish Pasty

For 4 good sized Cornish Pasties

500g strong bread flour
120g lard
25g cake margarine
5 gms salt
175 gms cold water

Pastry
Mix fat lightly into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add water and mix until pastry clears and becomes elastic.

Leave to rest for 3 hours in a refrigerator

FILLING

450g good quality beef skirt
450g potatoes ( a firm waxy potato such as Maris piper.)
250g Swede
200g onion
Salt & pepper
butter

slice the filling finely then add to the rolled out circles of pastry raw. Layer the vegetables and meat adding plenty of seasoning. Put a knob of butter on top.

Cooking time – 165c for about 40 mins

Italian Meatballs

Serves 10 to 12

  • 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
  • 6 tablespoons whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, preferably chuck
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground pork
  • 3 large, whole eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano
  • 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Dried breadcrumbs, for work surface
  • Olive oil, for frying

Directions

  1. Place breadcrumbs in a small bowl. Drizzle the milk over and let stand until absorbed.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
  3. Place the ground meats in a large bowl. Add breadcrumb mixture to meats along with the reserved onion and garlic, whole eggs, yolks, parsley, oregano, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix until just combined.
  4. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over work surface. Roll 3/4 cup meatball mixture into a thin strip, about 12 inches long; repeat 3 more times. Line strips next to one another; sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Cut strips into 1-inch lengths. Repeat process with remaining meat mixture.
  5. Working in batches, transfer 1-inch pieces to a large sieve; sprinkle lightly with breadcrumbs to prevent sticking. Toss until pieces become round and form meatballs.
  6. Lightly coat the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil; set over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook meatballs until browned and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain. Repeat with additional oil and remaining meatballs.

Use these in a pasta sauce, or lasagne.

recipe borrowed from Martha Stewart’s site.

Roast Beef

Roast beef is soo English, it’s what the the French still call the English as a nick-name/ insult- “les rosbifs”- although wikipedia believes this may be because the English have a reputation for turning up in the France, and burning their lilly-white skin in the hot sun.

For a few years, you couldn’t get beef on the bone. You can now, and it’s worth tracking down, because it adds to the flavour of the beef. The other thing you need is some fat on the meat. Without the fat it just doesn’t taste, well, of beef. 

The other thing it needs is a little bit of colour. Perfect beef, for me, is on the bone (beef rib) with some fat marbled through it, roasted in a hot hot oven for not quite long enough. It needs to be dark on the outside, and pink and juicy in the middle.

To the outside of the beef, before it goes into the oven, run in a mix of salt, dijon mustard and worcestershire sauce. To rest the beef on, under the beef, throw in some whole garlic cloves, 1/2 or 1/4 onions (2). This’ll help the stock flavour up as the beef roasts. Roast for 20 minutes in the hottest oven you can (240C ) then for 20 minutes a a kilo, at 190C . Less for Rare beef, and more for well done. 

Once the meat is roast- AND THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT- let the meat rest for at least 30 minutes. It will be mildly warm when you carve it. If you’re serving it with gravy then carve it nice and thin- it should be mild pink and tender. 

Steak and Kidney Pudding

My Dad always goes on about a steak and kidney pudding- but I’ve never made one. I found this recipe- and intend to make i one day

 
To serve 6

First make the filling.

Trim and cut into large cubes a kilo of beef skirt, shin or chuck.
Cut up and remove the cores from about 500g beef kidneys. Season 50g plain flour well with salt and pepper.
Heat a little fat or oil in a large, heavy frying pan until fairly hot but not smoking. With floured hands, toss a couple of handfuls of beef in the seasoned flour, then put it in the pan. Brown well on all sides, then transfer to a large saucepan.

Brown all the meat like this, including the kidneys, in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.
When all the meat is browned, deglaze the empty pan with a glass of red wine, stirring and scraping up any burnt, crispy bits with the edge of a spatula.

Add the deglazed juices to the meat in the casserole. Heat a little more fat or oil in the now-clean frying pan, add 1 large or 2 medium onions, sliced, and sweat for a few minutes, until softened.

Add to the meat. Add a scant tablespoon of tomato ketchup, a teaspoon of good English mustard, a bay leaf and about 750ml beef stock or water (it should barely cover the meat). Stir gently and bring to a gentle, tremulous simmer. Cook for about 11/2 hours, until the beef is fairly tender but not ‘finished’. It is going to get another couple of hours in the pudding. Note that skirt and shin will take a little longer than chuck steak. Check the seasoning towards the end of cooking and adjust as necessary.

At this stage the filling can be left, covered, in the fridge for a day or two. Or it can be very successfully frozen. If you like mushrooms in your steak and kidney pudding, gently fry about 250g whole button mushrooms or sliced larger mushrooms in a little fat or oil for a few minutes to let the juices run, then add to the filling before you make up the pudding (they will cook through in the pudding).
Now make the suet crust. Mix 250g beef suet with 500g self-raising flour and a pinch of salt. Add cold water by degrees (up to about 150ml may be necessary) until you have a workable dough that is not too sticky. Set aside about a third for the lid and shape the remaining two-thirds into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface to about 1.5cm thick and use to line a greased pudding basin of about 1.5 litres capacity. Pile in the meat with its gravy. Roll out the lid piece. Wet the edges of the lining crust and place the lid over it, pressing firmly with your thumb to stick the lid to the lining.
Tie a double layer of pleated greaseproof paper over the top of the pudding basin, then tie up the whole basin in muslin or a cotton cloth, if you like, to make it easier to raise and lower into the pan. Place on an upturned saucer inside a large pan of simmering water that comes a third of the way up the basin. Steam, with the saucepan lid slightly ajar, for 2 hours, topping up with boiling water from the kettle to stop the pan boiling dry.
Unwrap the pudding basin and run a palette knife carefully around the edge to loosen the pudding. Place a warmed plate over the top and invert the basin. Give it a shake to turn out the pudding. It should hold its shape – at least until you cut the first slice!

Serve with steamed seasonal greens, such as Savoy cabbage, winter greens or Brussels sprouts, and good English mustard. On a cold February day a real trencherman could no doubt manage a dollop of good buttery mash as well.