BEEF BOURGUIGNON

This is one of those dishes that I always fall back on when I need something tasty that I know will go down well with everyone.  

Some years ago I gave Nick a book for Christmas called "Classic French Cooking for Today".  In it the recipe for boeuf bourguignon is very complicated and begins with the words "three days before serving".  I think he did follow the recipe to the letter just once!

There are a couple of tips that are worth the effort though; to marinade the beef in wine overnight before the day of cooking and to stud the onions in the marinade with cloves.  Long, slow cooking in the oven, up to four hours, makes the beef meltingly tender and flavourful.  

With so many recipes out there in cook books and on the internet nobody needs another one but I'm writing this mainly for myself so that I remember how I made one that turned out really well.  It's a combination of tips from various recipes.

I used a cut of beef which in France is called "paleron" and in the UK would be called chuck steak, but any stewing beef would be fine.

Ingredients

1 kg chuck steak (or similar)

2-3 tblsp sunflower oil

1 pack (200g) smoked lardons (or similar)

500g (approx) large shallots or small white onions

a small handful of whole cloves

2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tblsp tomato purée

1 bottle red wine (Merlot or similar)

150ml beef stock (made using a stock pot or cube)

1 tblsp brown sugar

50g plain flour

4 bay leaves

500g white or chestnut mushrooms

Method

The day before cooking, remove any excess fat or gristle from the meat, cut into large bite-sized chunks and put into a glass or porcelain bowl.

Peel the shallots or onions and press whole cloves into each one, roughly 3 or 4 per onion.  Add to the bowl and pour over enough red wine to cover the whole lot.   (You may not need the whole bottle.)

Cover with clingfilm and put into a cool place or the fridge to marinade overnight.

On the day of serving, preheat the oven to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk 3.

If you have a flameproof casserole dish (such as Le Creuset) you can use it for frying.  Otherwise, use a frying pan and transfer to an ovenproof casserole dish for the oven stage of the cooking.

Put the oil into your frying pan and turn the heat to high.  Using a slotted spoon, lift the chunks of meat out of the marinade and dry on sheets of kitchen roll.  Brown the meat in the hot oil in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan and transfer the browned meat to a plate.  Add the lardons to the pan and fry until browned, adding a little more oil if needed.  Set aside with the beef.

Lift the marinaded shallots or onion out of the bowl and remove all the cloves.  Put them into the hot pan, adding a little more oil if necessary and fry until just golden.  Add the garlic and tomato purée and cook for a few seconds.

Put the flour into a small bowl or jug and use some of the marinading liquid to mix it to a paste.  Whisk in the rest of the marinading liquid and add this to the pan along with the carrots. 

Return the meat to the pan with the sugar, bay leaves and stock.  Bring to the boil then cover and put into the preheated oven for about 2 hours until the meat is tender.  (This is the stage at which you should transfer from the pan to an ovenproof casserole dish if using.)

Add the mushrooms to the dish and cook for another 20 minutes until they too are tender.

After removing from the oven adjust for seasoning by adding salt and pepper to taste.  

(To thicken if necessary use a little more flour (or cornflour) mixed to a thin paste with a little water.  Stir this into the dish and return to the oven for a few minutes or cook on the hob if you are using a flameproof casserole dish.)

Makes 6 generous portions. 

PARKIN

 

Years ago I made Parkin using oatmeal for a Bonfire Night party and was disappointed with the result.  There was something slightly too gritty and serious about it - that's the best way I can describe it - not sweet or sticky enough.  I can't remember which recipe I used but do remember thinking that I probably wouldn't bother making any again!

The Parkin that my mum used to make every year for Bonfire Night wasn't really Parkin at all, it was just a plain but utterly delicious tray of ginger cake made to the Be-Ro book recipe.  You can read about that here.

Anyway, having been asked to make some for another Bonfire Night gathering I wondered what to do.  I have no idea if you can buy oatmeal as such in France so I set about finding an alternative recipe that was almost authentic but also like the sticky ginger cake we all love.  I came across one on the Sainsbury's Magazine website.

It was stunningly good.  Just like proper Parkin without the grit and with all the stickiness of a perfect ginger cake.  You can (for now) see the recipe here.  (These links do have a habit of disappearing.)

Ingredients

175g plain flour

125g porridge oats

200g caster sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

2 balls preserved ginger, finely chopped (said to be optional in the original website but it's well worth it)

200ml semi-skimmed milk

110g butter

2 tbslp golden syrup

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C / 130° fan / gas mk 2.  Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin.

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.

Put the milk, butter and golden syrup into a small pan and heat gently until the butter has melted.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and beat with a whisk.  Add and whisk in the preserved ginger.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 45 minutes.

Cool in the tin and then cut into 16 squares.  It keeps well for several days and if anything improves with keeping.  Remember to line your tin or box for storing it with baking paper not foil as apparently (according to the website) it will stick to foil.

Cuts into 16 generous portions.

BEEF IN BEER (boeuf carbonnade or Iron Maiden stew)

Many years ago I frequently used to make beef cooked in Guinness, to a Delia Smith recipe using braising steak, and delicious it was too.  I had long forgotten about it but with guests coming for dinner and it being very much casserole weather, I wondered about revisiting the old favourite.  Guinness is not for the faint hearted and not to everyone’s taste so I looked around for other "beef in beer" recipes.

In France beef in beer is a stew called "boeuf carbonnade" and eventually I found a recipe I could adapt by Mary Berry in her book "Everyday".  I decided to use a fairly light local Touraine beer.

The ingredients are simple, pretty much what you would expect in a beef stew, and the end result was utterly delicious! A really tasty, satisfying dish with a thick, glossy sauce and tender, melt in the mouth chunks of beef.  A perfect supper for what had been a disappointingly grey, cold and miserable day.  

The grotty weather continued so I made it again using something with a bit more punch, more like a stout.  It was called Iron Maiden, purchased from our local branch of Noz.  

Noz is a chain of shops in France that look like a jumble sale and sell end of line or unsold items of just about anything and everything.  It’s a good place to find and try foods that you may have never heard of, the downside being that you will probably never find it for sale anywhere again.  Once it's gone, it's gone!

Ingredients

750g braising or stewing steak, cut into bite sized pieces

2 tblsp oil

6-8 small shallots, peeled and cut in half 

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

150g button mushrooms

2 tblsp plain flour

330ml pale ale (or Iron Maiden or other stout for the darker version)

15ml beef stock (I used an Oxo cube)

2 tblsp caramelised onion chutney

1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

Method

If you have a flameproof or cast iron casserole dish you can use it for frying as well as in the oven.  Otherwise use a frying pan and transfer the ingredients to a regular heatproof casserole dish for the oven stage of the cooking.

Preheat the oven to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk 3.

Heat the oil in your pan and brown the meat in batches so as not to crowd the pan.  Remove each batch and set aside.

Add the mushrooms, shallots and carrots to the pan and fry for 4-5 minutes, adding a little more oil if the pan seems dry.

Put the flour into a bowl and stir in a little of the ale to make a smooth paste.  Then gradually whisk in the rest of it, making sure there are no lumps.

Return the meat to your frying pan and stir in the flour mixture and stock.  Heat until it thickens, stirring all the time.  Add the chutney, Worcester sauce and bay leaves and bring to the boil.  (Add more stock if it looks a little too thick. or a little flour mixed with stock or water if it looks too thin.)  At this stage transfer to a casserole dish if using.

Cover and cook in the oven for 2-2½ hours until the meat is tender.

Makes 6 generous servings.

STUFFED MARROW SOUP (soup maker recipe)

I have made several soups in the soup maker using one leftover portion of casserole or similar and they have always turned out well.  This time, I looked at the one remaining portion of stuffed marrow (actually an overgrown courgette) and thought "why not".

I added a few extra bits and pieces (although I left out the small "courgette" as once I'd trimmed it I realised it was our last cucumber from the veg plot so added an extra potato instead!).

It made a really tasty soup, one of the best ever, and you can see the recipe for stuffed marrow (courgette) here.

Ingredients

1 portion of stuffed marrow, cut into chunks

3 small potatoes

2 medium carrots

1 onion

1 tomato

1 vegetable stock pot

Method

Peel, wash and roughly chop enough veg so that when the leftover meat dish is added last it will all fill the machine to the bottom line.  I have occasionally found that leftover meat dishes stick to the bottom of the machine and adding them last seems to prevent this from happening.  Top up with another chopped carrot or potato if there's room, or maybe some celery if you have some.

Add the stock pot and water to fill to the top line.  Cook on smooth.

Test for seasoning before serving as the leftover meat dish will already have been well seasoned.

Makes 4 generous portions.

STUFFED MARROW (or the courgette that nearly got away!)

We have had some rum old weather here in France and autumn gardening has not been easy.  When Nick finally was able to clear the overgrown vegetable patch he discovered a surprise.  A courgette that had grown to the size of a marrow!  It was about 70cm (28") long!

We are fans of stuffed marrow in this house but haven't made one for years.

You can see my previous post about it here.

 

The dish is essentially a marrow cooked then stuffed with a bolognaise-style meat sauce and baked in the oven.  My mum always made hers by peeling the marrow and cooking it in boiling water before stuffing it and baking it.  According to the internet an overgrown courgette is not the same as a marrow, the latter being more watery when cooked.  So, this time instead of peeling and cutting it into rings we cut it lengthwise, unpeeled, and roasted it in the oven to make sure it was cooked before stuffing.

It was however rather huge so we only used half of it and we still have the other half to work out what to do with it next!  In actual fact we didn't manage to eat all of the one half either so I turned the leftover portion into stuffed marrow soup!  You can see that here.

Ingredients

1 large marrow or courgette, or two or three smaller ones

350g lean minced beef

1 tblsp sunflower oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 beef stock pot or cube

a good splash of red wine or sherry

1 large can of chopped tomatoes

a little hot water

a sprinkling of mixed herbs (optional)

a good sprinkling of grated cheese (cheddar or emmental)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200° C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.

Wash or wipe the marrow and cut it in half lengthways.  Scoop out and discard the seeds using a tablespoon.  Lay it cut side upwards in a large baking tray and put into the oven to cook while you make the filling.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and fry gently until soft.  Add the meat and garlic and fry until the meat is browned.

Add the tomatoes, herbs and stock pot/cube and stir well.  Add the wine or sherry and stir in.  Continue to cook until the meat is cooked, adding a little hot water to get a thick sauce.

Remove the cooked marrow halves from the oven and check that they are cooked using the point of a knife or skewer.  Return to the oven for a few more minutes if they’re not tender.  Then place them in a suitable baking dish that they fit into neatly.  Spoon the meat filling into the cavities and sprinkle the grated cheese over.

(At this point you could leave the dish as it is and finish cooking later if convenient.)

Return to the oven and bake for around 30 minutes until the cheese has melted and forms a slight crust.  

The whole dish is a meal in itself for two or three people with some crusty bread on the side.  Would serve 4-5 with a few extra veg.

SCARY SAUSAGE ROLLS FOR HALLOWEEN

A variation on my usual sausage roll recipe for Halloween.

Add onion, green pepper and a teaspoon of spice such as garam masala to the sausage mixture.

See the full recipe here.

BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER AND SPRING ONION SOUP (soup maker recipe)

Autumn is most definitely well established here in France and it's soup weather again.

Vegetables are not cheap here.  When we go back to the UK I am always amazed to find that you can still get a bag of parsnips or carrots for less than £1 or a cauliflower for less than £2.  In France we now use a lot of frozen veg; onions, mushrooms, leeks, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans.  It can be a cheaper way to buy them and helps to avoid waste.

Cauliflowers here can vary enormously in price from one week to the next.  They can be 1.90€ one week and 5.50€ the next in the same shop.  And often they are huge and already look past their best.  When they look nice and fresh and are a sensible price we buy them and they can be a challenge to use up before they go off.  With about one third of a cauliflower and a whole head of broccoli looking almost past it in the veg drawer I decided to make soup.

I have never found spring onions as we know them in the UK here; those slender, sweet and not at all sharp ones that are delicious in dips and salads.  Here I have found bunches of larger round white onions and much chunkier ones that look like British spring onions' big brothers and they are both stronger in flavour.  With half a bunch of those also needing to be used up I included them in this soup.

It was delicious!  Smoother than a home made soup often turns out which I wonder might be due to the variety of potato.  Who knows, but it's definitely a combination I will use again.

I made it ahead of using it and kept it in the fridge so when reheating it I added a good slurp of Pineau des Charentes (the nearest thing to dry sherry that you can readily buy here) and a swirl of cream when it was in the bowl.

Ingredients

4 small potatoes

2 medium carrots

a large chunk of cauliflower

a large chunk of broccoli, including (discarding the woody bits) the stalk

3 large "spring" onions, or a small bunch of small spring onions (or an ordinary white onion)

2 vegetable stock pots (I used the last of my Tesco garlic and thyme stockpots)

Salt and pepper to taste (or add this at the end of cooking or when reheating) 

A splash of dry sherry and a swirl of cream (optional) to add after cooking

Method

Peel, wash and roughly chop as appropriate enough veg to fill the soup maker to the bottom line.

Add the stock pots and water to fill to the top line.

Cook on smooth.

Makes 4 generous lunch servings, or 6 for first course servings.