Beef Cheeks Bourguignon: A Hearty Stew

Boef Bourgignon aka Boeuf à la Bourguignonne is a classic French dish originating, as its name indicates, from the Burgundy region, as do a number of other dishes incorporating red wine, such as coq au vin and oeufs en Meurette. I've been meaning to try the latter ever since our last trip; I'll try and blog that one soon.

So back to the beef: this hearty stew is characterised by a slow braise of beef in red wine, which renders the meat tender and succulent, and the addition of bacon, pearl onions and button mushrooms. Most recipes use shoulder or stewing steak and combine beef stock with red wine for the braising liquid.

I decided to use beef cheeks, as I love the way these break down with slow cooking. I used shallots instead of pearl onions. And I substituted some dark ale for the beef stock, just because. These slight variations on the traditional version turned out extremely well!

This is a very easy dish, though you'll need some time at the start, to prep all the ingredients and separately brown the beef pieces, mushrooms and shallots.

The amounts are flexible, to make it easier to do your shopping. These minor variations really won't make a difference to the final result! Even if you're cooking for one or two, I recommend making this recipe in the quantities below and freezing the extra portions for another time.

Kavey's Beef Cheeks Bourguignon

Serves 6

Ingredients
1-1.2 kilos beef cheeks, trimmed and cut into 2-3 inch pieces

2-3 tablespoons seasoned flour
Vegetable oil for cooking
200 grams bacon in cubes or short strips
200-300 grams button mushrooms, cut in half if large
300-400 grams shallots
2 medium-large onions, diced
1 bottle full-bodied red wine
250 ml dark ale
1 sprig fresh thyme or teaspoon dried
2-3 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme or teaspoon dried

Method

• Dredge each piece of beef in seasoned flour.
• In a large lidded casserole dish – big enough for all the meat, onions, mushrooms, wine and liquid – heat a little cooking oil and fry the floured beef pieces until the surfaces are crusty and brown with caramelisation. Do this in batches so the meat doesn't steam. Set aside the browned beef.
• Add more cooking oil if necessary to brown the mushrooms in the same pan, then set aside.
• Now do the same for the shallots, and set them aside with the mushrooms.
• Again, add more oil to the empty pan, if necessary, and fry the bacon and onions until the onions soften and the bacon takes on a little colour.
• To the bacon and onions, add back the beef pieces plus the bay leaves, thyme, red wine and dark ale.
• Leave to simmer for 3 hours, with the lid on.
• Add the mushrooms and shallots back to the dish and cook for another 30-45 minutes, uncovered, on a gentle simmer. The time depends on the size of your shallots, as you want to ensure they are cooked through and soft. Leaving the lid off will also allow the sauce to reduce a little further.

Serve with buttery mash potatoes, or plain steamed potatoes if you want to be more traditional.

Read More...

Summary only...

Angela Nilsen's Ultimate Quiche Lorraine

In February 2007 I chanced upon a marvellous cookbook: The Ultimate Recipe Book by Angela Nilsen. It had just been published, so I'm not sure how (or where) I came across it so soon, in the days before my compulsive food blogging.

But I was instantly taken with Nilsen's approach of selecting 50 classic dishes and setting out to define the ultimate recipe for each one. In her quest she used her own considerable skills and knowledge of cooking and also consulted with many expert chefs, food writers and regional specialists to glean as many insider tips and suggestions as possible. Then she tested, tested and tested again, fine-tuning as she went.

The result is this wonderful cookbook, published by BBC Books under the brand of Good Food Magazine (for whom Nilsen worked as Food Editor and then Acting Food Director before creating the Ultimate series of recipes).

In her introduction to quiche Lorraine, Nilsen points out that "what you don't put into a quiche Lorraine is as important as what you do". It's a good reminder that quiches with "salmon, watercress, brie, even broccoli" might be jolly nice but are not Lorraine!

Quiche Lorraine is a simple dish with just a few ingredients. To me, that's where it's beauty lies.

One of Nilsen's advisors for this recipe comments that a great quiche Lorraine should be "like a rich savoury custard with lots of bacon gently set in it. The custard should be creamy, not solid, and the tart slim."

We enjoyed this quiche recipe when we first made it, not long after buying the book but with the huge influx of cookery books I've amassed in the last couple of years, the book had been neglected at the back of the shelf. Recently I yearned for a good home-made quiche and dug the book out again.

Angela Nilsen's Ultimate Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

Pastry
175 grams plain flour
100 grams cold butter, cut into pieces
1 egg yolk
cold water

Filling
200 grams smoked or unsmoked lardons
50 grams Gruyere
200 ml crème fraîche
200 ml double cream
3 eggs, well beaten
pinch of ground nutmeg

Notes
We used smoked Denhay bacon cut into pieces.
We used a strong, well-aged Gruyere and doubled the amount to 100 grams.
As it was the nearest available pack size, we used 170 ml of double cream.
We added the extra egg white (leftover from the pastry) into the custard filling, which compensated for the reduced cream content.

Method

• Make the pastry by putting flour, butter, egg yolk and 4 teaspoons of cold water into a food processor. Process in pulses until the mix binds.

• Line a 23cm diameter flan dish or tin (we buttered and floured ours). Nilsen suggests a tin that is about 2.5 cm in height.
• On a floured surface roll the pastry out as thinly as you can.
• Ease the pastry into the base of the dish, trimming the edge so it sits slightly above the lip of the dish (to allow for shrinkage). Lightly prick the base with a fork and chill for 10 minutes.

• Preheat the oven to 200 C (180 C fan).
• Line the pastry with foil and weigh down with baking beads (or any other suitable weight – we used a smaller metal pie tin). Bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove the beans and foil and bake for another 4-5 minutes until the pastry is pale golden.

• If you notice any small holes or cracks, patch up with leftover pastry trimmings.
• While the pastry cooks, prepare the filling.
• Dry fry the lardons for a few minutes until they start to colour. Nilsen suggests discarding the cooking fat and draining but we tipped it into the custard mix for added flavour.

• Cut three quarters of the cheese into small dice and finely grate the rest.

• Scatter the cooked lardons and diced cheese over the pastry base.

• Beat together the crème fraîche, double cream and (pre-beaten) eggs. Add nutmeg and seasoning. (You shouldn't need much salt given the bacon and cheese).

• Pour into the pastry base, over the bacon and cheese.

• Scatter the grated cheese on top.

• Bake for about 25 minutes at 190 C (fan 170 C) or until golden and softly set. The centre shouldn't feel too firm.

• Remove from the oven and allow the quiche to settle for a few minutes before serving.

As you can see, our pastry was just a touch soggy in the base, though this didn't detract at all, for me. This may be because we didn't roll the pastry thin enough or because it needed an extra minute or two of blind baking.

This is a really delicious recipe and very straightforward. I definitely recommend that you try it.

Use only the recommended 50 grams of cheese if you want a milder, more custardy flavour.

---

The Ultimate Recipe Book by Angela Nilsen is currently available from Amazon for just £10.90.

A list of the recipes covered can be found in one of the customer reviews.

Read More...

Summary only...

Paganum: A Rural Tradition – Buying British and Visiting the Farm

I love meat! I love the tender meat fibres, the bloody juice, the marbling of fat …

… whether it's a juicy steak with Béarnaise sauce, a huge roast joint with oven-crisped fat, a hearty stew with a generous slosh of red wine or any of a hundred other mouth-watering dishes, I'm all about the meat.

Last year, I started thinking more about where I sourced my meat and the best way to buy top quality British beef, lamb and pork at good prices.

I came across Paganum through Niamh from EatLikeAGirl when she sourced some fabulous pork shoulder for her market stall last year.

And just as I was about to place my order, in a rather fortuitous moment of good timing, Chris Wildman got in touch with me first to ask whether I'd like to try some Paganum products. And I certainly did!

The Yorkshire climate does wonders for cows, sheep and pigs and the resulting meat is really excellent.

Since then, I've placed a number of repeat orders, most notably for Paganum rib eye steaks, which I think are fantastic and very good value indeed.

See below for a discount code if you'd like to follow suit and try some Paganum meat for yourself.

Fast forward to July, the day before Pete and I set off for a week's holiday in the Lake District. Looking at some photographs of meat (as you do) I had a sudden thought and asked Pete how close our route to Windermere would pass by Chris' farm. Not that I even knew where the farm was at that point, other than "Yorkshire". So Pete looked it up.

"Oh noooo", he said, shaking his head gravely, with am exaggerated frown on his face. "The nearest we'll pass to Paganum is a whopping four miles."

Four miles? That's practically by the front door!

I immediately phoned Chris and asked whether it might be possible for us to drop in and meet him in person the next day, as we made our way through North Yorkshire and despite the short notice, and it being the boys' last day at school, he insisted we do.

It's a bloody long way from London to North Yorkshire. By the time we reached Kirkby Malham I was sick of being cooped up in the car, sick of stop-start traffic, sick of being on the move.

So it was an absolute delight to break up the journey with a relaxing farm visit.

We were very warmly welcomed in by Chris and his wife Jennifer and it wasn't long before the kettle was on for tea plus Chris was digging out his home-made elderflower cordial for a refreshing summer thirst-quencher.

Church End Farm is presumably so called because it's located at the church end of the village. As we stood in the kitchen looking out over the pretty church, Chris explained that Jennifer had grown up on this farm (her parents live in the house next door) and that he and Jennifer were married in that very church. (Chris grew up nearby, the son of several generation of Bentham butchers).

What a romantic kitchen sink view – the church in which you were married! That's got to make the washing up less of a chore, right?

Glasses and mugs in hand, Chris lead us outside to meet some of his beautiful sheep. He farms Swaledales (with black faces and curved horns), Blue Faced Leicesters (with strangely hump-shaped faces) and Mules, a cross between the two other species. The ones near the house are those in need of a little extra TLC – orphans or late births or those a little under the weather.

After purchasing some farm fresh eggs from younger son Oliver and having some of Chris' home-made wild mushroom soup, a chorizo sausage and some local cheese pressed upon us, we hopped back into vehicles for a visit to the main farm area.

The views really are stunning. Chris pointed out a far-away hilltop where some of his beef cattle roam and we admired the bucolic Yorkshire Dales countryside.

Older son William is very keen to join Chris working the family farm and is already an authority on the Swaledale and Blue Faced Leicester species. He gave me a quick introduction to the sheep inside one of the huge barns.

We also met the chickens, admired the strange menagerie of animal models, got a tour of Chris' bacon makin' unit and had a snorty chat to Gertrude the (pedigree) pig.

sheep; scenery; Kavey & Chris

Lessons on sheep from William

Pete meets sheep

Chickens

Chris with pig tail

Making bacon

Gertrude the pig (ssssh, that's Gertrude's brother Alexander in the previous shots)

Surreal animal models; Pete & rhino friend

I don't like to share my steak (hands off, all mine).

But I am happy to be able to share a special discount code giving Kavey Eats readers 10% off Paganum orders. Just enter MK+KE into the voucher code field during the check out process.

On top of that is an October 2010 special offer for Kavey Eats readers: Use the MK+KE code above and Chris will send a free Yorkshire Chorizo Original or Piccante (Spicy) with every order over £50.

If you are looking for a specific cut (or maybe some marrow bones, like those I curried, above) just call Chris directly to discuss.

Chris has also posted a few words and some photos from our visit on his blog, here.

Read More...

Summary only...

Empanada! Leith's Meat Bible

The Leith's Meat Bible is, as you'd expect from it's name, a hefty and thorough compendium about choosing, storing, preparing, cooking and carving meat.

With over 450 recipes covering beef, veal, lamb, pork, poultry, game and exotic meats (alligator, bison, camel, elk, impala, kangaroo, llama, python, zebra to name just some) it's certainly comprehensive and the recipes are sourced from all over the world.

The introductory chapters on Understanding Meat (structure, colour, hanging, storage, factors affecting tenderness) and Methods of Cooking Meat are a helpful primer and certainly filled in a few gaps for me.

For example, brining tenderises meat because the salt causes meat proteins to disarray and soften, allowing them to more readily absorb water moisture. Although much of this water will be lost again on cooking, some of it will be retained.

Each different meat chapter then provides more detailed information (such as history, common breeds, different cuts, preparation and cooking methods and troubleshooting for common cooking problems) before listing many varied recipes.

I bookmarked several recipes as I worked my way through the chapters including beef short ribs braised with cider, steak and mushroom pie, veal escalopes with rosemary, Hungarian veal medallions with aubergine, lamb noisettes with roast butter beans and tomatoes, Lancashire hotpot, mutton pies with herb scone crusts, chorizos, Greek lemon chicken, chicken in creamy garlic sauce, yakitori chicken with ginger and lime dipping sauce, chicken and coriander filo pie, boned stuffed duck, duck confit, balsamic-glazed chicken livers on coriander toasted brioche, mi-cuit foie gras terrine and maybe even llama stew!

Following these meat chapters are a selection of Basic Recipes including stocks and sauces, recipes for pastry and pasta and Accompaniments including ways with potatoes, polenta, rice and classics such as Yorkshire puddings, caramelised shallots and red onion marmalade.

Nigel Slater calls Leith's Meat Bible "the best friend you can have in the kitchen" and whilst that's a title that goes to my husband, I can understand why he endorses the book – it's likely to earn itself a permanent home on our bookshelves.

Leith's Meat Bible - Empanadas

(Makes 8)
Ingredients
1.5 quantity shortcrust pastry (recipe provided elsewhere in the book) or 500 grams shop bought
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
450 grams minced beef
150 ml water
1 teaspoon Cajun spice
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch ground cayenne
200 grams chopped tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten, to glaze

Note: the teaspoon of paprika is to be added in to the shortcrust pastry recipe. As we used shop bought, we omitted this.
Note: we didn't have a ready-made cajun spice mix so made up our own spice mix for the minced beef filling.
Note: as we grow our own, we used fresh rather than tinned tomatoes.
Note: we didn't bother egg glazing the pastries, nor using egg to seal the edges.

Method

• Make/ buy pastry. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, roll each into a 15 cm round, wrap with cling film and chill.

• To make the filling, place half the oil in a sauté pan and stir in the onion. Cover with a piece of dampened greaseproof paper and cook over a low heat until softened, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the paper and turn up the heat slightly to brown the onions. Stir in the garlic and cook for further 30 seconds. Remove from pan and set aside.

Note: we didn't bother with the dampened greaseproof paper when cooking the onions.

• Place the remaining oil into the sauté pan and brown the beef over a medium heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a sieve set over a bowl and allow any excess fat to drain away. Remove any excess fat from the pan.
• Add some of the water to the hot pan and scrape up any sediment. Return the meat to the pan, stir in the spices and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and the remaining water, then stir in the onions and garlic.

• Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and cook at a low simmer for an hour, or until the meat is tender and the sauce is no longer watery. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool.
• Lay the pastry circles on the work surface in a single layer. Brush 1 cm of the edge with the beaten egg.

• Divide the filling between the pastry rounds, then fold to make half-moon shapes. Crimp the edges.

• Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
• Brush the pastries with the egg glaze. Chill until the pastry is firm.
• Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200 degrees C.
• Brush the pastries again with the egg glaze, place on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

• Serve warm.

The empanadas were lovely, we'll definitely be making them again and varying the spice mix to find a nicer Cajun seasoning mix. I also want to try them using an Indian keema filling – a cross between empanadas and samosas!

We had the leftovers cold for lunch the next day, and though they worked really well cold too, so a good lunch or picnic option.

---

Leith's Meat Bible, published by Bloomsbury, is (currently) available from Amazon for £22.49 (hardback).

Read More...

Summary only...