If you don’t want to go to the effort of making a pie, this recipe also works well as a stew.  I have also done a cheats pie, whereby I make the stew then serve it with a disc of puff pastry I cook separately.  Definitely a quick pie fix, if you don’t have the extra time to bake the pie. It saves at least an hour in the cooking process.

Of course, if you really don’t like kidney you could leave it out and increase the amount of beef, but I think you should try the kidneys just once more before you declare your dislike of these tasty organs. It has become very trendy over recent years to waste less and be more sustainable in your eating and using the offal is certainly a good start. Chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fergus Henderson  have been championing the nose-to-tail eating and both of them have cook books full of ideas for making tasty dishes out of offal.

I have called this recipe steak and kidney pie, but instead of using chuck steak, which is the usual meat for this dish I have used gravy beef.  The term gravy beef confused me for a long time when I moved to Australia. I had never heard of this cut of meat.  What it actually is, is shin, or Osso Buco without the bone.  I guess they call it gravy beef because it’s only really good for slow cooking in gravy.  Either way it is a good alternative to chuck steak and easier to come by Down Under.

Steak and Kidney Pie (serves 4-6)

750kg Gravy beef
500g kidney
olive oil for frying
2 leeks, white part only
25g plain flour
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
375ml Guinness
500ml beef stock
1 bay leaf
Worcestershire Sauce
200g button mushrooms
salt and pepper

1 quantity of rough puff pastry or two sheets of shop bought pastry.

1 egg yolk
20ml milk

Cut your beef into 2cm cubes.  Prepare your kidneys. Cut them in half through the centre and remove the tough, white fatty bit. If you have never done this before check out this video as tough bits in the centre of your kidneys will put people off if they are already a little cautious about eating them.

Heat a large, heavy based pan to medium high heat and add a little olive oil. Fry the beef and kidneys in batches until brown all over and remove from the pan and set aside.

Cut the leeks in half lengthwise and rinse under cold running water to get rid of any dirt. Finely slice.  Heat a little more oil in the pan and add the leeks. Slowly fry on a medium heat for 10 minutes until cooked but not coloured.  Add the flour and tomato paste to the leeks and stir. This should make a thick paste with the remainder of the oil.

Gradually add the Guinness to the paste, stirring so the liquid thickens.  If you add the liquid too quickly the sauce will go lumpy.  Return the beef and kidneys to the pan with any juices that have come out of the meat.  Add the bay leaf and a few shakes of the Worcestershire sauce.  Put a lid on the pan and simmer gently for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  It will be cooked after about an hour, but the meat will still be tough so the longer you leave the meat to simmer the more tender it will become.  The meat will continue to cook as you bake the pie but you want it to be tender before filling the pie.

Just before you are ready to fill the pie, add the mushrooms. If they are small they can be added whole; halve or quarter any large ones. At this point you need to remove the bay leaf as well.

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Now you are ready to fill your pie. You could buy the pastry but I think you can’t beat homemade. I love Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe, which can be found online here. If you are going to make the pastry you will need to make it while the beef is cooking and leave it to rest for at least 30 minutes before you are ready to roll.

Divide the pastry into two portions, a third and two thirds of the block. The larger piece is for the bottom of the pie dish and the smaller piece for the top.  Roll out the larger piece so it is about 2ml thick.  Line your pie dish with the pastry making sure you have at least 1cm overhang all the way round the dish.

Fill the pie with the meat until it is bulging over the top of the pie case then fill with the gravy until the pie case is nearly full.  Top with a circle of pastry about a centimeter larger than the circumference of the pie.  Pinch the edges together and glaze the pie with an egg yolk mixed with 20ml milk.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 45-60 minutes until the pie crust is golden and cooked. Serve with mashed potato, peas and any excess gravy from the pie mix.

I always make my own stock, I currently have every flavour imaginable in the freezer, but I am not opposed to a good quality shop bought stock as long as it comes close to the stuff I can make myself.  I’m also not very good at labeling the items in my freezer, so I can’t always guarantee what flavour I’m defrosting, which is fine when it’s just me, but not so great when I’ve got a vegetarian friend coming for dinner, or need to guarantee the flavour of stock for a specific recipe.

Having Essential Cuisine stock in the fridge or freezer will save the day for those emergency stock moments. They also come in handy 1 cup packs, which is good if you only require a small amount.  At the moment I have to hack off a block of stock from the freezer when small amounts are required and I’m not really sure how I still have all of my fingers.The most important thing to say about this range of stock is that they actually taste the way stock should taste, like the meat or vegetable they are made from, and once chilled in the fridge they are also the right texture of a home made stock.

I love eating Spanish food, especially Tapas, but the challenge here was to create a two course restaurant quality dinner. I could’ve gone for Tapas, but two courses would have left my husband feeling very hungry.  Following consultation with my Spanish friend I settled for Paella Croquettes, followed by Spanish braised beef cheeks. Two dishes that would showcase the flavour of the Essential Cuisine stocks.

Paella Croquettes  (serves 4)
150ml white wine
pinch saffron threads
1 small onion finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
50g green capsicum, finely chopped
100g Arborio rice
250ml Essential Cuisine vegetable stock
pinch of sweet, smoked paprika
50g cooked, peeled, finely chopped prawns
small handful of freshly grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
60g plain flour
2 eggs lightly beaten
125g fresh white breadcrumbs
vegetable oil for frying

Red Capsicum Sauce
1 large, red capsicum
1/4 of one garlic clove
10ml good quality olive oil
Salt to taste

To make the sauce, preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.  Place the red capsicum on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes turning occasionally until blackened all around.  Once the skin is all charred, remove from the oven and place in a bowl and cover with cling film to allow the skin to steam away.

Once the capsicum is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and the seeds, trying to catch the juice in the bowl.  Rip the capsicum into large pieces and place in a mini food processor with the juice, the garlic and 10ml of good quality olive oil.  Blitz until it forms a smooth sauce, adding a little more olive oil if necessary. Season to taste then set aside until ready to serve.

To make the croquettes, you first need to start by making a basic paella, of course you could also use some leftovers, but I didn’t have any.  Start by soaking the saffron in the wine while you prepare the rest of the paella. Heat some olive oil in a medium, heavy based pan then gently fry the onion and garlic for five minutes or until the onions are cooked through but not brown.  Add the finely chopped capsicum to the pan and continue to fry until the capsicum is just cooked. This should take a couple of minutes. Add the rice and stir for one minute until coated in the oil.

Add the saffron infused wine, by this time it should be quite yellow.  Heat the stock in a small pan.  Stir the paella until the wine is absorbed then start adding the stock a ladle full at a time until all the stock is absorbed. After the first ladle of stock add a pinch of sweet smoked paprika and stir through the paella.  The paella should take about 20 minutes to absorb all of the stock.  After this time, if the rice is not quite cooked, ad a touch more boiling water.  You don’t want the paella to be too sloppy or you won’t be able to roll the rice into the croquettes.

Once the rice is cooked, stir through the grated Parmesan and the chopped, cooked prawns and season to taste.  Allow the paella to cool.  The paella can be made up to twenty fours hours in advance and kept in the fridge until ready to use.

Prepare the flour, beaten egg and bread crumbs on three separate plates.  Once the paella is cool enough to handle, divide the mixture into 8 portions and shape each one into the lozenge shaped croquette.  Roll each croquette first in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs.  Pat the breadcrumb layer to make sure it sticks.  You have to treat the croquettes fairly gently as they fall apart easily.

Once all of the croquettes are coated with breadcrumbs pace them in the fridge to firm up slightly before frying.

To fry, cover the bottom of a frying pan with about half a centimetre depth of vegetable oil.  Over a high heat, fry the croquettes in two batches, turning the croquettes so that they brown on all sides. This should take a couple of minutes.

Serve the croquettes with the capsicum sauce. I served the sauce cold, but it could be gently heated if preferred.

Beef Cheeks Braised in Sherry (serves 4)
2 beef cheeks about 400g each
30g plain flour
5g salt
1g cracked black pepper
olive oil for frying
1 red onion, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
1 stick of celery, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and bruised
2 fresh bay leaves, bruised
few sprigs fresh thyme
250ml Spanish sherry
250ml Essential Cuisine chicken stock
250ml water
salt and pepper to taste

Mashed Potato (serves 4)
1kg Desiree potatoes
150ml pure cream
80g Butter, cubed
salt to taste

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Remove most of the fat and sinew from the outside of the beef cheek. It is impossible to remove all of it, as it goes right through the cheek, but it will melt away as the beef cooks and can be removed afterwards when you shred the coked meat. Leave the cheeks whole. Put the flour, salt and pepper together on a plate and dust beef cheeks with it. Fry the beef cheeks, until browned all over then set aside. Fry the celery, onion and carrot in the same pan you fried the meat in on a medium heat for 10 minutes, until starting to soften.

Put beef cheeks in a large ovenproof dish. Add fried veg, crushed garlic and herbs. Pour over the sherry, Essential Cuisine stock and water. Heat to just below boiling then put in oven for four hours. Turn beef every hour to stop the meat browning too much on top.

After four hours the meat should be really tender. Remove cheeks from liquid, strain the vegetable from the liquid, discarding the veg but reserving the liquid. Remove the fat from the top of the liquid, then put back in a small pan to re-heat.  At this point adjust the seasoning of the sauce and reduce to thicken if you want to (remembering this will intensify the flavour of the sauce).

Meanwhile make mash.  Peel and chop potatoes into equal sized chunks. Place in a pan with salted boiling water and cook for 12-15 minutes until soft enough to mash. drain and allow potatoes to steam dry for a minute. Heat cream and reduce slightly. Mash the potatoes really well so there are no lumps.  Add the butter and cream to the mashed potatoes and stir until butter is melted and cream is well combined. Season with additional salt if necessary.

To serve halve each beef cheek and shred the meat into large chunks, removing any large chunks of gelatinous tissue. Place the meat on top of the mash and drizzle with sauce. Serve with crusty bread and greens if required.

Stock provided by Essential Cuisine.

One-Pot-Dinner

Winter is here, it’s finally cold enough to put the oven on (actually it’s so cold inside, I’m using it as a heater!) so time to crack out the casserole and slow cook meat to create a comforting, hearty meal to warm me up from the inside out. I struggle with my Sydney home in winter and it’s lack of central heating (one of the few things I miss from the UK). In summer it is perfect for enjoying the summer sun, with the barbeques round the pool, but in winter it is often colder inside than it is outside.

Last week I stumbled across an online competition looking for a recipe for your favourite one-pot-dinner, and it got me thinking. How do you pick your favourite dish when there are so many awesome one-pot combinations? I toyed with casseroles and stew and dumplings but then I remembered the Cobbler, a hearty stew with a crispy, cheesy topping. Every now and then I like a reminder of the mother land so I used Stilton cheese for the Cobbler and Guinness (I know, it’s Irish, but still a memory from home) for the stew.

So here you have it, my recipe for Beef, Guinness and Stilton Cobbler (serves 2-3)

500g chuck steak
2 tbsp plain flour
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 sticks of celery
1 carrot
1 parsnip
1 small swede
375ml Guinness
375ml beef stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper

For the cobbler

125g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
pinch salt
25g unsalted butter
60g Stilton cheese
handful of chopped fresh thyme
75ml milk, plus extra to glaze

The key to this one-pot-dinner is to have a good pot that can go both on the stove top and in the oven.  I ruined a very expensive wedding gift a few weeks after my wedding by putting it on the gas when I shouldn’t have done.  An expensive lesson to learn, but I’ve never done it again.

Ready for the Oven

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C

Finely chop the onion, garlic and celery and fry in the pot in a little olive oil until softened but not brown.  Chop the steak in to 2cm chunks, season and toss in the flour (I usually do this in a plastic bag). Push the onion mixture to one side, and the beef and fry until browned.  Add the rosemary and the rest of the flour to the pot and stir until the meat and veg are coated in flour.

Add the Guinness to the pot, stirring continuously until the liquid starts to thicken and there are no more lumps.  Boil the Guinness for a couple of minutes until it reduces a little.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the carrot, parsnip and swede into 2cm cubes. Once the Guinness has started to thicken, add the rest of the chopped veg, the stock, tomato paste and bay leaf and stir until well combined.  Bring to the boil, cover then put in the pre-heated oven for 2-2 ½ hours until the sauce has thickened and the beef is meltingly tender.

Cobbler

While the beef is cooking make the cobbler.  I’m not sure why it’s called a cobbler; it is basically a cheesy scone that goes on top of the stew instead of serving it with dumplings.

To make the cobbler put the flour, salt, crumbled Stilton, thyme and butter in a food processor and pulse until it forms a breadcrumb like texture.  Add the milk, while the motor is running and mix until it forms a dough.  Remove the dough from the food processor and knead gently to form a smooth dough.  Roll the dough out flat until it is 2cm thick and press out 6 rounds with a 6cm cookie cutter.

After 2-2 ½ hours, once the beef is cooked, season the sauce to taste and increase the oven temperature to 200°C.  Brush the cobbler rounds with milk to glaze then place them on top of the beef stew. Return to the oven without the lid for 20-25 minutes until the cobbler is nicely browned and risen.

Beef, Guinness and Stilton Cobbler

Serve as is or with some peas if you’d like to add a splash of colour.