Fridge that meat

Fridge that meat, a recent post on another blog bought this back into mind and raised a couple more questions about salting, I had in fact done just the thing a couple days prior and tend to do it when I have steak, I’m a fan of rump and this does wonders to that cut. The principle is simple, place the meat, steak, on a rack and place it in the fridge uncovered for 18-24 hours. Now you can salt the meat before you refrigerate it, it will draw out moisture and work it’s way into the meat seasoning it, I like to do this if I want a more cured meat flavour, works great for steak sliced up and served on a roll with lashings of horseradish. If you choose not to season the steak before the fridge, moisture will still be drawn out, the exterior will dry and will make for far superior crust when cooked, I usually don’t season first if it’s a steak to be plated, I’ll season it in the pan and as I baste with foaming melted butter.

My usual cooking method is to bring the meat out of the fridge at least half an hour before cooking, heat a heavy cast iron pan over a medium high heat, place the fat cap side down and cook for one minute, before placing a meat side down move the fat around the pan, place the first side down, season the upside, cook for one minute, flip and season the upside. Keep cooking for one minute and flipping until almost at your desired temperature. For the last two flips add in a healthy tablespoon or three of butter, this will cool the pan slightly, when melted and foaming slightly tilt the pan and baste, using a spoon, with the butter for a minute, flip and repeat. Place the cooked steak aside to rest for five minutes or so.

Kefta mkaouara (tagine)

I never need an excuse to fire up the tagine, it’s a great cooking vessel and it’s always nice to come across new recipes to try rather than getting stuck in a rut. This recipe is based on a Rick Stein one which stuck in my mind from one of his various television shows, so this may not be his exact recipe, but how I remembered it and adjusted for my tastes.

500g Lamb or beef mince
Cumin, ground
Paprika, hot smoked
Chilli, flakes
Parsley, finely chopped
Salt
1 Egg, per portion
Tomatoes, 1–2 cans
Garlic, 3–4 cloves sliced
Onion, diced

In a bowl, combine the mince, a couple spoons of cumin and paprika, add chilli to your taste, salt and a handful of parsley. Mix together, but don’t overwork the meat. Use a tablespoon to scoop even portions of meat and roll into balls. Set aside.

Heat the tagine over a medium heat, when up to temperature add a good glug of olive oil and start browning the meatballs. When lovely and brown all over, spoon into a bowl and set aside.


Add the onion and garlic to the tagine and sauté until translucent. Add a spoon or two of cumin, paprika, salt and chilli to taste. Gently cook the spices out. Add the meatballs back to the tagine and stir. Pour in the can of tomatoes, and add some liquid if needed, you want the liquid to cover at least half the meat ball. Place the lid on and cook for 5–10 minutes.

Taste and season. Make little wells where you want to place the eggs and crack them in. Place the lid back on and cook for about 5 minutes, depends on the size of your eggs.


Serve with some good flat bread and strained yoghurt.

Greens and Brisket

I guess I have never really jumped on the kale bandwagon, I’m no vegetable hater, I just never saw the appeal, so it’s purchased pretty infrequently, but this latest side dish I whipped up has changed my view on it, the hearty texture and flavour stand up well against this spicy garlicky tomato braise.

Braised Kale
Kale, woody stems removed, roughly torn
Garlic, sliced thinly
Chilli flakes
Red onion, finely diced
Tomatoes, a good quality tin
Chicken stock
Salt
Olive oil

• Sauté garlic, chilli flakes and onion in olive oil until translucent.
• Add kale, stir through until beginning to wilt.
• Pour in a splash of stock and, then add the tomatoes.
• Cover and cook on low for 20–30 minutes.
• Taste and season.

Brisket


Dry Rub
Garlic powder
Cumin
All spice
Chilli
Cayenne
Paprika
Coffee
Coriander
Salt

• Grind all together.
• Coat Brisket in dry rub and let rest for a couple of hours to overnight.

• Preheat oven to 200ºC .
• In a large oven dish with lid, put in a layer of onion chopped in wedges, place the brisket on top. Cook uncovered in the oven for an hour.
• Lower the oven to 170ºC.
• Remove from oven and pour in a cup of hot chicken stock, place lid on and put back in the oven for 2–3 hours depending on the size of your brisket.
• Rest for 20–30 minutes with the lid on, remove and slice.

Serve up with a good portion of greens, and cooking liquid from the brisket. Grits, buttermilk semolina, polenta, kumara (sweet potato) purée all make excellent sides too.

Spaetzle and Beef Stroganoff

Beef stroganoff is a definite guilty pleasure, it’s a highly unlikely the following recipe is at all authentic, but it’s an easy throw together meal. The rich mushroom-beef creamy stew was ladled over a bed of slightly crisp buttered noodles called spaetzle.

Spaetzle get made now and then when, I feel the urge and am willing for the clean up that follows, using a spaetzle press (or ricer) is no clean feat. The other method is scraping off noodles from a board one at a time into boiling water, a skill I have very little desire to practice and no one to show me anyway, plus it looks far messier than the noodle press. To compound issues, I also managed to misplace my recipe (or list of quantities) and as I haven’t blogged previously about it, I had to start from scratch.

I guess I may of put you off, all this talk of mess, well don’t worry I have solved that problem. All you need is a zip-lock bag, no need for spaetzle presses, colanders dripping over pots or ninja knife board scraping skills. Just a simple bag that you can nip the corner off and a large pot of boiling water. You don’t end up with one long noodle, as the dough hits the water they break into perfect lengths of noodle. The noodles can be made ahead of time and chilled in an ice bath before being stored in a container in the fridge, just remember to toss them in a little oil so they don't stick to each other.



Spaetzle
250g Flour
195ml Milk
8g Salt
2 Eggs (130g)

• Combine the dry ingredients together and form a well in the centre.
• Whisk together the eggs and milk, pour into the well and beat well, you really want to work the gluten.
• Allow the mixture to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.
• Get a deep pot with salted water on the boil.
• Transfer to a piping bag with a thin nozzle, or as I do, a zip-lock bag with the corner lopped off.
• From a height steadily pipe the bag into the simmering water, it will break up into noodles an inch or two in length, this will need to be done in batches (2-3 depending on pot size).
• Cook for a minute or two, or until floating on the surface.
• Scoop out and transfer to a colander set inside an ice bath (or to a waiting pan to sauté in butter).
• Once cooled, toss in a little oil and transfer to a container. Refrigerate until you're ready to cook.
• For the above, I sautéed the spaetzle in butter, crisping it around the edges then added arugula until wilted.

Beef Stroganoff

• 400g of beef schnitzel sliced into half centimeter strips tossed in flour seasoned with garlic powder, mustard powder, hot paprika and salt.
• Sauté in a hot heavy based pan with a good dash of butter and oil until crisp and golden, remove and set aside.
• Generously dollop in another knob of butter, when foaming add in half a finely diced onion and generous amount of sliced button mushrooms. When cooked down, and colored, Stir through a couple of minced garlic cloves, paprika, Dijon mustard and tomato paste.
• Pour in some beef stock, about 400 ml in total, when all has been incorporated and begun to thicken add the beef back to the pan.
• Adjust seasoning.
• Splash in a couple of tablespoons of sour cream, lower the heat, and stir, reduce slightly.
• Before serving fold through some chopped parsley. Serve up with some spaetzle sautéed with rocket.

Cavatelli with beef

After completely busting my pasta machine, fingers and sense of humour when making alkaline noodles (recipe to come) for a nice tasty bowl of Ramen, I headed online looking to replace the cursed finger shredding hell beast, much to my pleasant surprise they are considerably less expensive than when I first purchased the pile of scrap metal. Ultimately I got completely distracted and ended up buying a Cavatelli machine from Amazon rather than one of the pasta machines from Trade Me, which I should really get around to sometime. Shipping speeds being rather good these days I didn’t have to wait long to get my hands on the machine and start playing. Ratios, recipes and advice is a little hard to find online if you’re not that interested in trying out non-ricotta cavatelli as I was, but after a bit of research, piles of books, and finding a curry cavatelli in Lucky Peach issue #1, I felt comfortable I had a decent basic cavatelli dough (not ricotta or egg pasta).


Little did I know that was just the start of the trouble shooting, making the dough is pretty straight forward, it’s a little like kneading a brick much like making alkaline noodle dough, but by the end it’s pretty pliable and easy to handle. The main cause consternation is getting the strips of dough the right thickness and width to run through the machine, they have to be wide enough to take up most of the roller, but not so wide than when compressed they get caught in the side, and has to be thick enough to be compressed when pulled through so it curls and makes a dense piece of pasta, too thin and it’ll just pass through and the texture is all off. Well I still have a lot of practice to get consistently good cavatelli, but I’m sure it’ll be one of those light-bulb moments when I nail the perfect thickness and width.


Cavatelli
1 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Cups Flour
1/2 cup Hot water
1 tsp Baking powder
Big pinch of salt

Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour in the water and oil. Mix together, and form into a ball. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes to hydrate a bit.

Knead, it will be very stiff and a lot of hard work, after about 5 minutes wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Knead again for about 5 minutes, wrap it and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out and cut into strips ready to roll through the Cavatelli machine.

Once passed through you can freeze in a single layer (and then transfer to container) or cook straight away, in plenty of salted water boil for 4-5 minutes.

Braised Beef
This is a pretty versatile sauce, loosen it with a little of the pasta cooking water before tossing it through the cavatelli. Leftovers are great when reheated with some sautéed cavolo nero.

Stewing beef, cubed
Celeriac, diced
Carrot, diced
Onion, diced
Fennel bulb, diced
Chicken stock
Tomatoes
Bay leaves
Parsley, finely chopped
Mustard
Anchovies
Tabasco
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Heat a decent glug of olive oil in an oven proof dish and brown the beef all over, add 4 or 5 anchovies, cook until they have melted into the oil. Toss in the onion and fennel, cook until translucent. Add the remaining ingredients, adding enough stock so the liquid is almost covering everything. Place on a lid and cook in a slow oven until falling about, about 130ºC for a few hours.

Spoon out about a third of the sauce, and as much meat as possible, pass the remaining sauce through a mouli, pull the meat apart with a fork, stir everything back together, taste and season.

Take enough sauce for the number of portions, I’m a nerd and usually do a portion at a time, if it needs reheating place in a pan on a medium heat, loosen with some pasta water and toss the cavatelli through the sauce, serve up. To add a little extra dress with a little lemon-chilli oil* and parsley.

*Lemon-chilli oil: 1 part peppery olive oil, 1 part lemon juice, chilli flakes, and salt.

Pressure cooked meat sauce

This is one for the pressure cooker club, if you’re not a member I guess you could slow cook it, but it’s really not the same, there is something about cooking under pressure and using next to no added liquid that really pumps up the flavours in the sauce. If you’re on the fence about owning a pressure cooker and have heard nothing but horror stories, the days of exploding pots of hell are well and truly over, the modern pressure cooker is quite unlikely to erupt, and heck you can even get set and forget electric models which are great for freeing up a hob and not adding to the heat in the kitchen, not a bonus on a cold day though.

Melt in the mouth beef nestles into the indentations of the orecchiette pasta, giving an almost perfect ratio of meat/sauce/pasta with each mouthful. It’s definitely my go to quick and easy sauce. It’ll make you think twice about cooking up a batch of mince based sauce again, primal cuts give better flavour and texture, you get to control the fat going in, and as it’s slow/pressure cooked it breaks down to melt in the mouth tender pieces.


500 g Chuck steak, cubed
2 Onions, diced
200 g Tomato purée
1 Carrot, diced
1 Bulb of garlic, peeled
Handful of parsley, chopped
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbsp Tomato paste
Salt
Pepper
Hot sauce, to taste, or chilli flakes

It's dead simple, put everything into the pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for about 40 minutes. Let the pressure drop naturally. Use a wooden spoon to break up any lumps of meat. Taste and season with salt, pepper and white wine vinegar. Stir in another handful of chopped parsley. Serve stirred through orecchiette.

Butter Burgers

BBQ season well and truly on us it’s time to get the covers off, clean up the winters neglect and get grilling. I love getting a few burger patties on the grill, don’t have to worry about smoking the house out and you get a nice char only really achievable on a BBQ, even better if you have a charcoal grill. I like to keep the patties quite simple, salt, pepper and good beef, don’t knead it to much but gently shape it so it’s just holding together. To really gild the lily I’ve take to folding in grated frozen smoked butter, it adds a great flavour to the burger and of course makes it extra luxurious too.

Beef Cheeks, new years

We had the horde at our place for new years eve and it was put to me to sort out the non liquid nourishments, I quite frankly had my heart set on revisiting the Dr pepper-miso short ribs that I had dabbled with previously, pretty damn stubbornly I might add too, but with leaving the shopping too late and only one suitable rack of ribs at the store, reluctantly (read: kicking and screaming) I changed my mind and used beef cheeks, so there were a couple of alterations to make, no longer sticky finger licking ribs, it would be unctuous melt in the mouth beef cheeks that had been braised on a bed of peppers, onion, carrot and cilantro roots, served in a tortilla with all the trimmings.

12 Beef Cheeks
1 Can of Dr Pepper (reduced to 125 ml)
2 tsp Miso paste (shiro)
3 Chipotle Chillies
1 tsp Cider vinegar
Coriander Seeds (pulverised)
Splash, dash or glug of oil


Divide the beef cheeks between some zip lock bags. Combine all the other ingredients together in a bowl, check seasoning, then pour into the bags, massage the marinade into the meat, seal and refrigerate overnight.


In a dish large enough to hold the cheeks make a bed of diced red onion, carrots, capsicum and coriander roots (use the leaves as a garnish). Place the cheeks on top of the vegetables and pour over the marinade. Cover with a double layer of tin foil and cook for 5 hours at 130ºC

After 5 hours strain the liquid off and discard the vegetables, add a couple of chipotles to the liquid. Pour the liquid along with the cheeks back into the roasting pan, cover and cook for another 30 minutes.


Remove the cheeks and set aside. Pour the cooking liquid into a pan and reduce until thickened, season. Slice the beef cheeks and set in a serving dish, pour the reduced cooking liquid over. Cover until ready to serve.

We had the cheeks in corn tortillas with a variety of toppings we had assembled around the dish of beefy goodness on the table, made for a fuss free meal, as everyone could pick and mix as they liked.


Also finally managed to crack open my second brew, pleasantly surprised at how good it is, I don’t know how much longer it will last, I’m trying to ration it but I am weak willed. I have another very hoppy bitter IPA on the go and a ginger beer that is very very dry and very very alcoholic (a slight miscalculation).

Dr Pepper-Miso Marinated Short Ribs

I wish I had got a better photo of these ribs, they were sweet, salty, savoury awesomeness, and devoured too quickly for the pause of a good photo, but hey what are looks, it’s all about the taste right?

Dr Pepper is a guilty pleasure, it’s a excellent cure for a night of overindulgence, which I probably do more than is better for me, but I hadn’t thought to use it as an ingredient in my cooking until the seemingly odd combination of miso and the soda popped into my head. Salty umami laden miso combined with fruity sweet soda paired with some slow cooked rich red meat, it seemed kind of wrong but I couldn’t think of a reason why it wouldn’t work.

1 Rack of short ribs
1 Can of Dr Pepper (reduced to 125 ml)
2 tsp Miso paste (shiro)
½ tsp Chilli flakes
1 tsp Cider vinegar
Splash, dash or glug of oil

Slice the rack part way down the meat between the ribs (or whatever serving size you choose) to allow the marinade to work in a bit deeper.

Combine all the ingredients and check the seasoning, adjusting either with more miso or a dash of salt. Marinade the beef for up to 24 hours.


Slice a red onion, and dice a couple of carrots and place in an oven-proof dish, lay the marinaded beef on top and pour over the remaining marinade. Cover with tinfoil and cook at 140–150°C for 3 hours.

When cooked carefully remove the ribs and set aside, get a heavy baking sheet in the oven and crank up the heat to 220°C, when up to temp place the ribs on the heated pan and cook for 10–15 minutes to give a nice crust, but be careful not to dry out the meat.

While the beef cooks pass the cooked vegetables and any juices through mouli adjust the seasoning and use it as a sauce for the ribs.

Braised Beef Cheeks

Slow cooked meat is awesome, melt in the mouth, big rich flavours, it’s all good, apart from the time it takes to get the result, you can cheat it with a pressure cooker, well the texture kind of, but you can’t cheat the rich strong flavour that a three hour braise produces, which is a problem when it’s a Wednesday night at 6pm and you have beef cheeks you really want to eat, but like hell you’re going to wait til what will probably be a 10pm dinner time. So like the crazy food weirdo that I am, I think hey I can cook two meals tonight, I don’t need to be sociable, I’ll just set up shop in the kitchen for the night. With one dinner made, and ate, I set about getting a beef cheek braise on the go, I figure if I get it in the oven by 8pm and cook it for 3 hours at 140ºC, I should be able to get it cool enough and get it in the fridge overnight to be finished off the next day.

2 Beef cheeks
2 Carrots, diced
1 Onion, diced
2 Celery stalks, diced
1 tsp Smoked sweet paprika
1 tsp Hot paprika
1 tsp Mustard
1 tbsp of Garlic confit
1 tbsp Tomato paste
250 ml Red wine
50 ml Tawny port
2 Bay leaves
1 Bunch of thyme

Preheat the oven to 140ºC

Brown the cheeks in a little olive oil, remove and place in a casserole dish (or dutch oven, I would have used one, but the enamel on mine exploded off with some gusto a while back and I haven’t replace it yet).

Sweat the onion, carrots and celery in the pan.

Add the paprikas, mustard, tomato paste, and garlic, cook until fragrant.

Deglaze with the port, and when almost evaporated add the red wine, bay leaves and thyme, simmer for a couple of minutes.

Pour the mixture over the cheeks and place on a lid, or cover tightly with a double layer of tinfoil. Cook for 3–4 hours.

When done, carefully remove the cheeks to warm bowl, and strain the liquid into the same, the vegetables have done their work, and will be pretty bland, so just discard them.

While the meat rests in its sauce, prepare the polenta. I unashamedly use instant polenta, good for you if you have the time and patience to put up with making the regular kind, and for putting up with the burns you get from popping bubbles of steamy polenta hell. Bring 500ml Chicken stock to the boil, remove from the heat and whisk in 125 grams of instant polenta, keep whisking until thick, you may have to put it back on the heat for a couple of seconds, but usually it isn’t needed. Add half a tub of crème fraîche and whisk in until fully incorporated.

Spoon a pillow of polenta onto a plate, take a cheek and slice it in three, then rest it on the polenta, spoon over a generous amount of sauce, and finish with a grating of a nice nutty cheese and a sprinkling of herbs.

Red wine marinated roast beef salad

This is so simple to prepare, all it takes is a bit of patience or forethought, and a mandoline (or a sharp knife and steady hand). The earthy taste of the carrots pair nicely with the thin slices of medium rare beef, then little explosions of saltiness from the capers, finishing with fresh anise from fennel cleansing the palette ready for the next bite.


Marinate the beef in red wine and garlic for about 8 hours, or overnight, heck longer the better, but you probably wouldn't want to leave it much longer than 24 hours.


Preheat the oven to 200°C, and get a heavy based pan on the heat, preferably one which is oven proof. Pat the beef dry and season well with salt and pepper. Brown the beef on all sides in the pan with a little butter and oil, you want a good brown crust as it adds bundles of flavor to the beef. Once browned place it in the hot oven and cook until medium rare (internal temperature of 55°C).


Let the meat rest for as long as you can, preferably until it's room temperature.


While the beef is resting, slice some carrot on the thinnest setting of a mandoline, put aside some of the carrot slices to use raw, and in a bowl mix the remaining slices with a bit of vinegar, salt and sugar to make a quick pickle. Chop some parsley, and slice some fennel on the mandoline, again thinner the better. When the beef has finished resting, slice it thinly and lay it out on a plate. Garnish with the carrots, pickled carrots, fennel, capers, parsley, and drizzle over a simple vinaigrette (oil, white wine vinegar, dijon mustard, salt and pepper), finally sprinkle over some flaky or kosher salt.

Slow, slow prime rib

Nothing beats walking in to your local butcher and being able to ask for something to cook long and slow, and get a bevy of options back from someone who is obviously proud of their product. In this case we walked away with a prime rib.


The plan was a very long slow cook surrounded by shallots on a bed of aromatics, and braised in rich beef stock.


When cooking any piece of meat, from steak to big roasting piece, leave it out on the bench for at least half an hour, you don't want to go from fridge to oven (or pan). While the beef is resting on the bench peel a bunch of shallots.

Give the beef a heavy dose of salt and pepper, and finish with a sear on all sides in a very hot pan.


Place the beef on a bed of thyme, bay and other aromatic herbs, surround with peeled shallots and then add about 1 cup of rich beef stock. Cover and cook at 115-125°C for about 4 hours.


The beef was served up with some hasselback potatoes. They are very easy to prepare, just make slices through the potato, making sure not to go all the way through, rub with oil or water and sprinkle over with salt. While the beef is resting crank the oven up to about 200°C and roast the potatoes for about half an hour.


Just before serving, drain off the liquid to a pan and reduce a little and freshen up with some chopped herbs, and adjust the seasoning and finally add the shallots to warm through.


Carve the the beef in to 'steaks' topped with the caramelised shallot and jus.

Potatoes and Beef Sausage

Spicy beef sausages with onion sauce and potato thyme stack.


With some spicy good quality beef sausages and rich onion sauce this simple dish packs a lot of flavour.


Firstly get the potatoes ready, as they take about 40 minutes in the oven. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Thinly slice some shallots. And in a bowl mix together some olive oil, salt, thyme and pepper.


Slice (or use a mandoline) the potatoes and toss through the oil mixture, making sure to coat each slice.


Start layering potato slices and shallots in oiled muffin tins, pressing down as you go.


You want the slices to sit slightly above the top of the tin as it will settle. Cook until golden and cooked through 30-40 minutes (the sausages will share the last 10 minutes).


When they're cooked remove from the tins. I like these little individual serves as a lot more of the surface gets crispy.


Next get the sauce on the go, slowly caramelise some sliced onion, add a spoon of mustard, a small spoon of something sweet (I used quince conserve, but red current jelly would work), and then deglaze with a dash of vinegar. And finally add a cup or so of rich beef stock. Let it simmer and reduce, make sure not to reduce it too much though.


Cook the sausages. I like to start the cooking by browning them in a medium-high heat pan and then finish off in the oven for 10 minutes or so.


Nothing left to but eat and enjoy.

Beef marrow two ways part 2

So two days had passed and the marrow had soaked in the brine long enough, it was time for another overly indulgent lunch. (See part 1 here)


The supporting ingredients are pretty much the same as the last marrow dish. You need the freshness of the parsley, saltiness of the capers (and well salt) and the acid of the pickled onions to counter the extreme richness of the marrow. Although you could get away without having pickled onions just add a dash of lemon juice in the mix.


The marrow is drained from the brine and dried on a couple of paper towels.


Dust it in some flour.


Fry in oil until golden. Grape seed or canola are good as they have a neutral flavour.


Drain off the excess oil, and then chuck in a big chunk of butter (because butter makes everything better and well why the hell not) and fry until crisp and golden.


Drain the marrow on some paper towels to soak up any excess fat.


Serve on a toasted slice of baguette. I toasted mine under the grill and then finished off over the open flame of my cooker to give it a charred/roasted flavour.