Melt in your mouth beef shin

Tags

Beef, beef shin, red wine, stew, Veal

 

Beef shin is one of the cheaper cuts of beef yet is without a doubt one of the favourites used in long, slow cooked dishes.Also known as the shank, this is a cut of beef taken from the lower leg of a steer. The shin is a highly worked muscle that is supported by high levels of connective tissue. This connective tissue is broken down through slow cooking over a low heat and results in a moist, tender meat with rich flavour.

This dish has very few ingredients and very few steps to it but the end result is an intensely tender and fragrant stew. No knife needed here, the meat can be eaten with a fork.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

2kg / 4lb 8oz shin of beef, bone in (ask your butcher to cut it into 3cm / 1¼in slices)
3 tablespoons flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 Tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 bottles full-bodied red wine
1 bouquet garni

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 160ºC/325ºF
In a heavy-bottomed ovenproof pot or dutch oven, heat some olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter over medium high heat
Put the flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper
Coat the beef in the seasoned flour and shake off any excess flour
Fry the beef, in batches, for 1 to 2 minutes on each side until browned all over
Set aside
Add the onions, garlic and carrots and sauté for a few minutes until softened
Stir in the tomato paste
Return the meat to the pan
Add the bouquet garni and the wine
Add salt and pepper
Gently bring to the boil, cover and place in your preheated oven for 3 hours or until the beef is meltingly tender and can be broken up with a spoon
Taste and check the seasoning, remove the bouquet garni and serve
Serve with a creamy mash or pasta
Enjoy!

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Sauté of Veal with Noilly Prat

Tags

classic french, nouilly prat, Veal, vermouth

Gently simmered and very fragrant recipe. Noilly Prat is a brand of vermouth from France. “White” Noilly Prat is the archetype of dry, straw-coloured French vermouth. Noilly Prat now makes Red and Ambre vermouths as well, introduced in the 1960s and 1980s, but they are less widely known. Noilly Prat Dry is 18% alcohol by volume. The Noilly Prat company is based in Marseillan, in the Hérault département of southern France. Joseph Noilly, a herbalist, developed the first formula in 1813.

The manufacturing process used today is virtually unchanged since the 1850s. Noilly Prat is made exclusively from white grape varieties grown in the Marseillan area, principally Picpoul de Pinet and Clairette. These produce light, fruity wines which are matured in massive Canadian oak casks inside the original storerooms. The wine stays in these casks for 8 months, maturing and absorbing the flavour of the wood, before being transferred to smaller oak barrels which are taken outside and left for a year. Here they are exposed to the sun, wind, and low winter temperatures, while the wine is slowly changing. The result is a wine that is dry, full-bodied and amber coloured, similar to Madeira or Sherry. During the year outside, 6 to 8% of the volume is lost to evaporation, the “angels’ share”.

Noilly-Prat production area in Marseillan

Brought back inside and left to rest for a few months, the wines are then blended together into oak casks. A small quantity of Mistelle (grape juice and alcohol) is added to the wines in order to soften them, along with a dash of fruit essence to accentuate their flavour.
In the oak casks, a process of maceration, supposedly unique to Noilly Prat, takes place over a period of three weeks. A blend of some twenty herbs and spices is added by hand every day. The exact mix of herbs and spices that goes into Noilly Prat is a closely guarded secret, but includes camomile, bitter orange peel, nutmeg, centaury (Yellow Gentian), coriander, and cloves. After a further six weeks, the finished product is ready for bottling and is shipped in tankers to Beaucaire, Gard, where it is bottled by Martini & Rossi.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

800 g / 2 lbs veal cut into cubes
30 g / 2 tablespoons butter
4 shallots, finely diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
80 ml / 1/3 cup Nouilly Prat
180 ml / 3/4 cup chicken stock
Pinch of sugar
1 bay leaf
4 sage leaves, fresh
200 ml / 3/4 cup heavy cream
Parsley, fresh, roughly chopped for garnish

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium high heat
Add the veal and brown on all sides
Add the shallots, salt and pepper and cook a few more minutes
Pour in half the Nouilly Prat
Add the chicken stock and the bay leaf and lower heat to a slow simmer
Allow to simmer, covered, for 1 hour
Add the rest of the Nouilly Prat
Dice the sage leaves and add to the pan and leave to cook, uncovered, another 15 minutes for the sauce to thicken
Remove from the stove
Remove the bay leaf and check the seasoning
Add the cream and stir well
Sprinkle with parsley
Serve with homemade pappardelle pasta
Bon Appétit!

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Blanquette de veau / Creamy veal stew

Tags

blanquette, classic french, fiesta fridays, mushrooms, pearl onions, stew, Veal

Blanquette, from blanc, the french word for white, is a superb dish of meltingly tender veal cubes in a sauce made with a white roux, cream and eggs. Blanquette de veau is a classic of French culinary heritage and is certainly not difficult to make. It is a lovely, delicate dish and you should only make it with a veal of excellent quality. Blanquettes are usually served with all white accompaniments such as plain white rice or boiled new potatoes.

note on cooking veal:
Veal tends to release a huge amount of gray scum when it comes to a simmer and this needs to be removed. There are a few ways to deal with this problem. The most common is to skim continuously while the veal simmers, but this method requires you to stand in front of the stove for about 45 minutes skimming off, not the best use of your time, so I find that the blanching method that I propose below is the easiest and works incredibly well. And you have 45 free minutes to use as you please, way better.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

800 g / 1 lb 13 oz boneless veal shoulder, cut into 3 cm / 1 1/4 “cubes
1 litre / 4 cups veal stock
4 cloves
1 large onion, peeled
1 medium carrot, cut into large rounds
1 leek, white part only, cut into 2 pieces
1 celery stalk, cut into 2 pieces
1 bouquet garni
30 g / 2 tablespoons butter
30 g / 1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons thick/ heavy/ double cream
Fresh parsley, finely chopped for garnish

250 g / 9 oz pearl onions, defrosted
15 g / 1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon sugar

150 g / 6 oz button mushrooms, trimmed (cut into quarters if large)
15 g / 1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup water

Preparation:

Place the veal in a large dutch oven or saucepan, I use my trusty Le Creuset, cover with cold water and bring to a boil
Drain the veal and rinse it under cold water
Rinse out the pan and return the veal to it
Pour in the stock to cover the veal by at least 1 1/2 cm / 1/2″
Press the cloves into the onion
Add the onion, carrot, leek, celery stalk and bouquet garni
Bring to the boil, cover, and allow to simmer very slowly for 45 to 60 minutes
Once tender, remove the meat and set aside
Discard the herbs and vegetables and reserve the veal stock
While the veal is cooking you can prepare the onions and mushrooms
If using frozen pearl onions, place in a saucepan with the butter and sugar and cook for 5 minutes
If using fresh pearl onions, peel them then place in pan with butter and sugar and cover with water, simmer for 20 minutes, drain and set aside
Place the mushrooms in another pan with the butter, lemon juice and water and simmer for about 5 minutes, drain and set aside
To the make the roux, heat the 2 tablespoons butter in a pan over medium heat
Add the flour and cook, stirring continuously for 3 minutes
Remove from the heat and slowly add the reserved stock, whisking well after each addition
Return to the heat and and whisk until the sauce comes to a boil
Reduce to a simmer and cook until the mixture reduces and coats the back of a spoon, about 5 to 8 minutes
Add the lemon juice and season to taste
Quickly stir in the egg yolk and cream
Add all to the veal along with the onions and mushrooms
Reheat gently, do not allow to boil
Sprinkle with parsley
Serve immediately
Bon Appétit!

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