Braised Ginger Beef

This is not a quick simple dish.   You need to think about it at least the day before and as I made it in the slow cooker it needs all day to cook slowly and succulently.   A great dish for a Sunday dinner instead of roast or for a warming meal on Saturday evening after a day out in the cold and wet.   

After marinading overnight and then all day cooking the meat just melts in the mouth and the vegetable all fell to bits.  I served it with roasted skins,  caramelised carrots with caraway cabbage.  

Ingredients 
Braising or Stewing Steak cut to bite sized pieces
Carrots sliced
Celery sliced 
Onion  chopped
A bottle of red wine - I used a cheap one which worked very well (the experts say use the most expensive you can afford but I served that in a wine glass along side - delicious)
Thyme - good handful of sprigs
Bay leaves - one or two
Ginger peeled and cut into small bite sized chunks 
Olive oil 

Put the meat into a large basin and cover with the whole bottle of wine.

Leave overnight in the fridge.  

In the morning 

Chop the vegetables and lay them on a small slug of olive oil in a warmed slow cooker pot.

Drain the meat but reserve the juices.   Fry the meat in a separate pan to seal it.  The meat will already be deep in colour having taking in the flavour of the wine.




When browned add to the pot on top of the vegetables 

In the same pan add the remainder of the marinaded wine and and bring to the boil.   


Once boiling a scum will form so remove this and use the rest of the liquid to cover the meat mix.

Add the Thyme and Bay leaves.    Cover and leave cooking for several hours.   

At this point if I was cooking the meat in a conventional stewpot in the oven I would add a quantity of stock,  (beef, chicken or vegetable) to stop it drying out at all, it can be cooked off later but better to keep it moist whilst stewing.

I left it cooking on a low heat for 6 hours and it was heavenly, but you know your cooker best and you know your lifestyle and when you will need to eat.  You could add a few potatoes (new would work best and not mush up).  Leave them to cook in the juices so you could just come in and serve.

This went down so well and had lots of subtle rushes of flavouring.   I had planned to have it again for lunch the next day but it all disappeared that night.

Enjoy and let me know if you can come up with a variation.

For the caramelised carrots I used baby whole carrots (it is good to use whole ones anyway rather than sliced, I chose baby ones).  Place these in boiling water with a good handful of butter and sugar together with a  star anise.  Let the carrots boil away till the water has all gone and they just glaze over.  Serve them without the star anise.

The cabbage was the last minute preparation sliced then cooked in just a knob of butter with a handful of pre-roasted caraway seeds added just before serving.   

The inspiration for this meal came from the lovely Tom Kerridge at The Hand and Flowers   

.

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes

Bacon and Leek Bake

This is a very simple bake that we had as a main course but would work equally well as a side dish if you lessened the bacon,  I would probably use small lardons.   Very popular and deliciously rich.

Ingredients
Olive oil
Bacon cut into bite size pieces
Onion - chopped
Leeks - sliced
Garlic - chopped very finely
Cream - single is fine for this

Heat some of the olive oil and fry the bacon till it is well cooked

Remove from the pan into a roasting dish.  Add the onion to the now empty pan with the remainder of the olive oil.




As the onion softens add in the leeks on a low heat, continue to stir them and break up any bits still in rounds.

Sprinkle the garlic over this as you stir

Meanwhile cut the potatoes into chunky slices and add them tIo a pot of already boiling water.  You want them just softening so keep an eye on them, they can become mash very quickly.


When the leeks are cooked add them to the bacon and then drain the potatoes before adding them.  Cover the mixture with cream and stir well.

Pop in a hot oven for half an hour and serve piping hot with warm crunchy bread and a crisp salad or vegetables of your choice.

There is a slimmers version to this; Cook in the oven with chicken or vegetable stock instead of the cream, then just before serving add some fromage frais and stir well to give it that rich creaminess without the calories.

Other additions could be cheese grated over the top for added flavour although these flavours do blend very well together and don't necessarily need the extra.  

Enjoy and let me know what other combinations you can come up with.

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes

Spicy Roast Beef

Sunday Lunch is the highlight of the week and the time when I like to push the boat out a little bit.

Sometimes I will roll my Beef in Mustard and cook it like that but I have taken to doing it this way instead.   There is no getting away from the fact the crust is spicy, so cut off this for fussy eaters.  It surprised me when two of my very fussy children tried this and loved it; they kept returning for more.

I have added my amounts in but this will vary  on who and how many you are feeding, how spicy you like your meat and how big the joint is.  These measurements are a good guideline to try for the first time you spice up your Beef then you can adapt accordingly.

Ingredients 
Mixed peppercorns 1 tbsp 
Mustard Seeds 1 tbsp
Fennel Seeds  1tsp
Red Onions cut into quarters 
Joint of Beef
Olive Oil

Gravy
Flour
Stock Cube
Red currant Jelly (although I had run out and used Chill Jam instead)
good pouring of Red Wine


It is so simple for such a deep pervasion of subtle spices



Crush the peppercorns then add the mustard seeds and fennel seeds crushing them as well.

Cover the joint of Beef with oil.

Spread the peppercorn mix over a plate or roasting dish and roll the oiled joint in the mix.

Leave this for a few hours if you can or even overnight in the Fridge (you could put it in a bag)

Before you are ready to cook take the beef from the fridge so it can acclimatise to the temperature of the room.




Rest the Beef on the onions so any juices drip down.




Cook in  a hot oven 200°C / Gas 6  for about an hour (depending on weight, preference rare or well done -  I like very rare the rest of the family prefer very well done an hour was more to my liking than theirs)

Take the meat out and let it rest for at least 30 minutes - if any longer cover with Silver foil to keep the heat.

Meanwhile using the onions and all the delicious scrapings in the pan.  Mix in a spoonful of flour which has been mixed with water.   Stir it in till there are no lumps of flour.

Add the stock cube, redcurrant jelly and the wine and mix well; over the heat.  If like me you use pampered chef stoneware which cannot have direct heat I put it in the oven remembering to stir regularly.

Serve with delicious Yorkshire Puddings, Roast potatoes and a selection of veg.  I confess to hide all the seeds and onions I strained the gravy before taking it to the table, but some tastes might enjoy the bits still in the gravy

I used the left overs for sandwich fillings and cold meat platters, the kick added to the beef was delicious but not at all overpowering.

Enjoy,  do you add anything else to your joints - let me have a try?

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes

Curly Kale

I like my vegetable side dishes but so often to entertain the pallets of young unadventurous children I end up serving boring boiled veg day in, day out.    If I take the time and effort to produce a really nice meal it is good to have some side dishes that compliment the meal.  

This is definitely a dish to keep mum about the ingredients when talking to the children; yet it all disappeared so quickly.  We were having slow roasted lamb which had been infused with garlic and rosemary wrapped in anchovy fillets and the combinations worked really well.

Ingredients 
Butter
Olive Oil
Kale (stalks removed - cabbage or greens would work as well)
Onions sliced 
Garlic - chopped finely
Anchovy fillets - chopped very finely



Heat the butter with the oil to prevent it from burning. 

Add the onions and garlic and soften 

Chop the anchovy fillets very finely; don't worry nobody will know you have them in there.  Add to the pan.



Meanwhile blanch the kale in boiling water for a minute or so.  This keeps the colour vibrant and rich and does not lose any goodness in over boiling.



Drain and add to the onion pan -  toss quickly with all the ingredients and turn into serving dish.

Both the garlic and anchovies are invisibly infused within the soft almost caramelised onions but they give a richness of taste with no salt required.

Give this a try.  See how it goes down particularly with the lamb or a fish dish would be good.

 Enjoy and let me know what other combinations you can come up with.

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes

Caramelised Apple Pie

Sunday lunch is when I put effort into a pudding and with the wind and rain lashing down at the moment a good old fashioned warming pie goes down so well. This would make just as popular crumble but I had some puff pastry left over. 

Rather than just sprinkling with a bit of sugar I like to caramelise the sugar first then coat all apples in the mixture softening them as they absorb the sweetness.

Ingredients
Brown Sugar
dash of Water
Sprinkling of Cinnamon
Nutmeg  a good grating 
Cooking Apples
Pastry - shop bought is fine
Beaten Egg for glazing 

In a heavy pan add the brown sugar with a dash of water and put on a high heat.




Add the Cinnamon and Nutmeg and let it boil before reducing the heat.






As it reduces add the sliced apple pieces  coating them well in the syrup.

Allow apples to begin to soften 

Transfer to pie dish



Cover with pastry, allowing a few steam holes and decorate with any left over pastry.







Brush the egg wash over the pastry.  I also like to add a sprinkling of brown sugar to sweeten the pastry slightly.



Bake in a medium hot oven for 25 - 30 mins depending on your oven.  The pastry will turn a golden brown.

Serve with Custard, Cream or even Ice Cream and watch the pie disappear off the dish.  A very popular pudding in our house which I use with a crumble topping sometimes.

Enjoy and let me know what other combinations you can come up with.

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes

Steak and Ale Pie

As the weather turns cold and the nights draw in our tastes turn to warming food from our childhoods.  What is better than a steaming hot home baked pie to cast your taste buds back to the care free days of Mother's cooking.

This particular day I picked up some good steak and a bottle of Ale from the supermarket and the pie was gone in minutes.

Ingredients 

Steak or Stewing Beef  cut into bite size pieces 

flour 

salt and pepper

sprigs of Thyme 

onions chopped finely 

Ale 

Butter

Mushrooms

Pastry -  I cheated and used shop bought plus egg or milk for glazing

I use a new plastic bag for preparing the meat.  I find them great for marinades as well.

   

Fill the bag with a generous couple of spoons of flour - plain is good.    This is one place where I make a point of adding salt and pepper.  I also threw in a couple of Thyme sprigs to bring out the flavour of the beef.

Add the meat and toss it around well, making sure all the little mouthfuls have some flour on them.

Meanwhile in a little butter fry the onions until they are soft 

Add in the pre-floured steak and mix well.  

It becomes quite gloopy so keep stirring till the meat is lightly browned.

   

Slowly pour in the ale.  I like to use a good quality one and usually try and get a fun named one.  It is great to get more than one bottle and drink with dinner as they compliment each other well.

Let the mixture slowly come to the boil stirring often so nothing is allowed to stick to the pan base and burn.   As soon as it is bubbling turn the heat down and let it simmer for a while.  Add the mushrooms but remember to keep stirring often though.

If you feel it is too dry add a little water.  You need it to have some liquid left to cook in while in the oven.

You can leave it to cool slightly as you roll out the pastry.  This does not have to be beautifully exact; the more rustic the more it will evoke childhood memories.  

Cover the pie  and use the odd bits of pastry to decorate.   Cut a few steam holes through the pastry.  Beating the egg or using milk glaze the top of the pastry.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes depending on your oven. The pastry will turn a golden brown and you will see the mixture underneath bubbling and trying to break through the cover.

Serve with lots of brightly coloured vegetables and some mash potatoes.  If you wish to add a gravy keep some of the ale back and use this to enhance the flavour.

Warming and popular and you can add kidney (take out the mushrooms), try adding bacon lardons.  Change the meat to chicken and add leeks or  mushrooms again - use white wine with this.  With game dishes making a re-appearance on dinner menus try some venison or rabbit.  Let me know what you enjoy.

  

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Dawn Chorus

Tomato Pasta

This is such a great dish for the family.   It uses up all the old veg that didn't quite make it into something else.  It is packed with vegetables including the ones no-one likes and the children love it.  How better to sneak some good wholesome food onto their table.

Ingredients 

Oil - just a dash

Onions 

Vegetables chopped to smallish sizes - celery, leek, carrot, pieces of squash, courgettes, whatever you have in the fridge.  Not too much of anyone thing

Tinned Tomatoes -  the plum ones are good for this (2 tins at least for  people)

Dash of Red Wine Vinegar 

Generous spoonful of Brown Sugar

Heat the oil and begin by gently frying the onions and veg such as celery or leek.

Add the other vegetables, toss together

Throw in the tomatoes, they can stay whole for the moment.

Add the red vine vinegar, you only need a little. Then sprinkle liberally with the brown sugar.  This gives a slightly sharp tang then sweetens it which makes it appealing to the children.

Bring it to the boil and leave to simmer so that all the vegetables are cooked through.    If you are adding spinach, kale or other green leaves that do not need much cooking add them at the end just before you puree the mix.

When the root vegetable are softened, but still remain firm add the green veg and then liquidise.  This should be fairly roughly done so there are a few bits of crunch left in the sauce.   I blitz quickly once and then leave.

Serve immediately with fresh or dried pasta and plenty of hard grated cheese.   A chunky fresh bread also goes well with this.  

This is so difficult to replicate as the ingredients change each time; sometimes I add a few fresh herbs or even dried.   The delight is seeing them polish of the plates no matter what is in the pot and they think it is just tomato sauce.   I have added ginger and garlic as well to give it a little more umph.  I should rename it "Mothers Prayer Answered" with all the disguised goodness in there.  It is quick and so easy.

Enjoy 

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Dawn Chorus