spork me

Beef, Mushroom and Guinness Pie

My other pie experiment went incredibly well, I froze these for later and they didn’t last too long. Forget making your own pastry, just get store bought, it wasn’t worth it.

Ingredients:

500g beef (I used an angus roast I got on sale), cut in 1 inch cubes)
1 tin of Guinness
1 large red onion, diced
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
3 portabello mushrooms, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/8 cup diced rosemary leaves
Olive oil
Salt, pepper and flour
Frozen shortcrust and puff pastry

In a bit of olive oil, season the meat with salt and pepper then sear the beef until brown on all sides. Add in the carrots and mushroom and cook until soft.

In another pan, soften the onions in the butter, adding the rosemary towards the end. Mix in the flour.

Toss it all in the slow cooker with the Guinness and let it cook for about 6-8 hours until the meat comes apart with a fork (or 30 minutes in the pressure cooker). Season to taste with salt and pepper, and perhaps a bit more rosemary if you’d like. Pull apart the meat slightly with forks so it’s a bit shredded, and reduce the Guinness until it forms a thicker gravy. If it’s not working, or you’re getting impatient, mash together a bit of butter and flour then mix that in. Bingo.

Cool completely, and fill individual pie tins with shortcrust pastry on the bottom, and top with puff pastry. Seal well and freeze. To reheat, bake for 45 minutes on high heat, until the sauce is bubbling out and the pastry is golden brown.

Drunken British Bucket Turkey

Or otherwise known as Orange Bourbon Tea Brined Turkey roasted with Molasses Bourbon Orange Butter.

Just… wow.

Anyway, follow the directions here for the brine, then follow these easy steps to inject your turkey full of goodness to bake.

Ingredients:

Brined turkey
1 stick of butter
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup molasses
Cayenne pepper
Salt
2 springs of rosemary
2 bay leaves

Put the butter, orange zest, half the orange juice, bourbon, molasses, cayenne pepper, and salt in a blender. This works better if the butter is at room temperature, but whatever. Blend. It may not combine entirely, but that’s ok. Refrigerate it for a bit if you need to.

Make a pocket under the turkey skin, and mash the butter mixture all up in there. Put 1 bay leaf and 1 sprig of rosemary on each side, over the breast. Squeeze the remaining orange juice over the skin, and season the outside, and the cavity of the bird, with salt and pepper. Stuff the orange rind into the cavity, and bake for however long a bird of the size you have needs to bake. Cover it for the first 3/4 then remove the cover for the last 1/4. Let it rest for 30 minutes, covered, before serving.

Osso Bucco with Pea, Lemon, Mint and Goat’s Cheese Fettuccine, and Crispy Brussel Sprouts

This is inspired by the Maggie Beer beef cheeks recipe I made a few weeks ago, it worked pretty well with the osso bucco and I went lighter on some of the ingredients so the veal didn’t get overpowered.

Ingredients (osso bucco marinade):

4 pieces of thick cut osso bucco
4 roughly chopped garlic cloves
4 sprigs of rosemary
4 bay leaves
Rind of 1 orange
2 tbsp juniper berries
Salt, pepper, olive oil

Toss together the day before cooking.

Ingredients (osso bucco):

Osso Bucco, removed from marinade
1 chopped onion
2 chopped carrots
1 cup red wine
Juice of 1 orange
2 cups of beef stock

Sear the osso bucco in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil, then remove, cleaning the pan of most of the oil. Saute the carrot and onion until soft, seasoning with salt and pepper. Mix in the liquids and bring to a simmer before adding the osso bucco back in. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours. Before serving, remove the osso bucco and reduce the liquid so it forms a sauce.

Ingredients (brussel sprouts):

3 cups of brussel sprouts, sliced in half
Zest of half a lemon
Salt, pepper, olive oil

Mix and bake for about 30 minutes, turning halfway through, until crispy.

Ingredients (fettuccine):

2 cups of cooked fettuccine
1 cup of frozen peas, defrosted
1/2 cup crumbled goat’s cheese
Zest and juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
Salt and pepper

Saute the peas in a bit of olive oil. Once warm, mix with the rest of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper.

Beef Rib Eye Roast with Ricotta, Fennel and Pomegranate Barley Salad, and Roasted Mushrooms

This salad is great leftover and pretty easy to make in big batches. I made a bunch of barley, and sadly didn’t photograph the lunch version I made, which had salmon, ricotta and dried fruit.

Ingredients (beef and mushrooms):

1kg (or a bit bigger) beef rib eye roast
2 rosemary sprigs
5-6 thyme sprigs
4 tbsp butter
2 cups of mushrooms
Salt, pepper and olive oil

Marinate the steak in olive oil, salt, pepper, and the herbs for as long as you can. Overnight if possible.

In a really, really hot oven proof pan, removing the herbs (but keeping them), sear the steak for about 3-4 minutes until browned. Flip the steak and add the mushrooms to the pan, mixing with the herbs and pan juices. Put 2 tbsp of butter on the steak, over a couple of herbs, and bake for 10 minutes at 200C / 375F. Flip and repeat with the remaining butter, and cook for 10 more minutes. Remove the steak from the pan and let rest on a plate for 10 minutes. Slice to serve. Mine I cooked for a bit longer and overcooked, so if you’re unsure, use a meat thermometer.

Ingredients (barley, serves 4):

3 cups cooked barley
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds
3/4 cup ricotta
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves
Salt, pepper
1.5 cups chopped leftover caramelized fennel… or make some below

If you don’t have leftover fennel (why would you?), saute the chopped fennel with 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds, 1 tablespoon of sugar, olive oil, salt and pepper, until golden. Mix with the rest of the ingredients and season to taste.

Chili Fried Spatchcock, Duck Fat and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and Sauteed Kale

It’s a rare occasion when I make fried food these days. Winter made me do it. I blame Winter entirely.

For the potatoes, toss with rosemary, onion, salt, pepper and duck fat and roast for 45 minutes, turning halfway. Saute chopped kale with garlic, salt and pepper.

Ingredients (spatchcock):

1 spatchcock, quartered
2 red chilis
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup self rising flour
1 egg
Salt, pepper, vegetable oil

Mash up the chili, garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle until it’s a paste. Beat with the egg and add the chicken pieces, coating. Set aside until ready.

Fill a pan with enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom, and season the flour with salt and pepper. Making sure to dredge fully in the egg mixture first, coat the chicken with the flour and fry for about 7 minutes on each side until golden. Pop in a hot oven for 10 minutes to finish depending on the size of your pieces.

Rosemary and Pancetta Scotch Fillet Roast, with Roasted Mushrooms and Garlic

If you buy this roast pre-tied, this is dead easy to make. You could tie it yourself, but why bother.

Ingredients:

1 scotch fillet roast, 1kg
7-8 pancetta strips (enough to cover the outside)
1/4 bunch of rosemary
4 tbsp butter
1 packet of oyster mushrooms
Half a bulb of garlic, woody ends chopped off but skins on and separated
Olive oil, salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C / 375F. Rub the meat with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Remove leaves off all but one sprig of rosemary, and rub into the meat as well. Slip the pancetta in a single layer over the top and sides of the meat, containing the rosemary underneath.

In an oven proof dish, toss the garlic and mushrooms with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place 2 tbsp butter in the center of the pan, the roast on top, the last sprig of rosemary, and then the last 2 tbsp butter on that. Bake for 30 minutes, and remove from oven for about 5-10 minutes and let rest in the pan. This produced a medium roast, so adjust to your liking.

Beer, Balsamic and Rosemary Braised Short Ribs with Carrot Gnocchi

I’ve never made gnocchi before. It was alright, there’s just a lot of steps involved. With pasta, you literally just mix eggs and flour and run through a machine, but with this, you’re boiling, roasting, food processing, chopped, mixing, waiting… But, it was Sunday, and I’ll try anything once, and I had 2 different colored carrots so I made 2 batches. It looked pretty, they fell apart when I tried to roast them, I didn’t measure out the recipe, and so it goes. If you’re keen, check it out here.

Ingredients (short ribs):

1 kilo of short ribs (about 6-8)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 bunch of rosemary, stems removed
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
1.5 beers, something on the stronger side
1 cup of balsamic vinegar
Salt, pepper, and olive oil

Dice about a tablespoon of the rosemary, and mix into the flour with some salt and pepper. Coat the ribs in it, and in a large pan with a lid, brown the ribs. Remove from the pan, and remove some of the oil (most of it). Saute the onions and garlic in there with the remaining rosemary, Add the vinegar, bringing to temperature for a minutes before adding the beer. Once it’s to a simmer, add the ribs back in, cover, and cook for an hour on low heat.

After an hour, flip the ribs (note: this is only if they weren’t totally submerged), and cook for another 45 minutes. Remove the lid and the meat, and on medium high heat, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn, reduce the sauce until thick (about 10 minutes). Add the meat back in, coat in sauce and serve.

Steak with Crispy Brussel Sprouts and Zucchini Salad

Ingredients:

2 steaks
3 or 4 sprigs of rosemary
5 or 6 cloves of garlic
Salt pepper and olive oil
8 or so brussel sprouts, sliced in half
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp nutmeg
Sliced almonds to garnish
2 small zucchini, shaved in slices
Juice of half a lemon
Punnet of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Mash up the garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. Rub into the steak with the rosemary sprigs and let marinate at least overnight.

To cook, remove from marinade and sear on the grill or in a grill pan for 3 minutes on each side. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

For the salad, mix zucchini, lemon and tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper.

In a hot pan seasoned with oil, nutmeg, salt and pepper, add the brussel sprouts face down. Cook for 3-4 minutes before adding the balsamic vinegar, and cooking for a few minutes more. Flip over and finish in the oven for 15 minutes until almost burned. Top with almonds.

Red Wine and Rosemary Braised Beef Ribs

Oh yum, this was nice! And massive, if you can’t tell. The butcher didn’t have short ribs, so I ended up with one of these, really nice flavor and this method of cooking was tops.

Ingredients:

2 massive beef ribs
A few sprigs of rosemary
3 cloves of garlic, mashed up in a mortar and pestle
2 cups of red wine
Salt, pepper, and olive oil

Rub the meat with salt, pepper, and garlic. Chop about half the rosemary and rub into the meat as well. Get a pan hot and brown the meat on all sides before adding the red wine, some rosemary sprigs, and covering tightly to simmer on low for an hour.

Get a grill or grill pan as hot as you can. Remove the meat from the braise and reduce the red wine to a sauce. Grill the meat for about 2 minutes on each side to finish, and serve with the red wine sauce and a bit more rosemary.

Pan-fried Salmon with Potato, Onion and Mushroom Fritters

I just seasoned the salmon with salt and pepper and cooked it in a pan, but these fritters were pretty tasty. I was impatient and messed them up a bit, so here’s what I would have done.

Ingredients:

Enough potatoes to boil and create 1 cup of mashed potato
1/2 cup finely chopped shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
A few springs of rosemary, stems removed and finely chopped
Olive oil, salt and pepper

Boil and mash the potato well, combine with the rest of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper. If it’s not staying together, add milk if it’s too dry, and breadcrumbs if it’s too moist.

Form patties, and in a hot oven-proof pan, cook for about 5 minutes on each side before baking for 20 minutes at 200C / 375F.