Lucy Boyd’s slow-cooked beef stew with wine
This is a sort of daube, in that chuck or shank cuts are cooked slowly with a good red wine and some stock, celery and carrots, then finely sliced potatoes are added towards the end to make a lid. A good buttery lettuce salad with a mustard dressing is all you need with this stew.
Serves 4
stewing beef, chuck or rump 800g, cut into pieces
plain flour, for dusting
butter 150g
olive oil 4 tbsp
carrots 200g, washed or peeled and cut on the diagonal into 5mm-thick slices
celery sticks 4, ends trimmed, cut into 5mm-thick slices
red onion 1 medium-sized, peeled and chopped
lardons, or pancetta or smoked streaky bacon 150g, cut into small pieces
garlic cloves 4, peeled and finely chopped
good-quality red wine 2 glasses
bay leaf 1
fresh garden thyme 4 sprigs, washed and dried
hot beef or chicken stock 350ml
tomatoes 180g
waxy potatoes 400g, peeled and finely sliced (I use my Magimix for this, as you get such thin and evenly cut slices)
sea salt and black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C /gas mark 4. Bring the meat up to room temperature, and then when you are ready to cook, dust it lightly in the flour and shake off any excess. Season with salt and pepper. Use a medium-sized, heavy-based, flameproof casserole that has a lid. Heat a knob of butter (keeping some back for the potatoes and the vegetables) and half the olive oil in the casserole. As it starts to sizzle, brown the beef in batches all over, then remove to a plate. Add a little more olive oil and another knob of butter to the pot and throw in the carrots, celery and onion. Cook on a low to medium heat for 15–20 minutes until they soften but do not colour or fry. Add the lardons or bacon and the garlic and cook for a few minutes until golden.
Return the meat and any juices to the pot with the vegetables, turn up the heat and add the wine, bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute, then add the hot stock – it should not quite cover or submerge the beef. Turn the heat down to a simmer, then cover with a piece of greaseproof paper and a lid set slightly askew and place in the oven for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, score the tomatoes at the stem end, then blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a bowl of cold water and leave to cool down. Peel off the skins, keeping the tomatoes whole.
After the 45 minutes, take the stew out of the oven and decrease the temperature to 170C/gas mark 3. Add the tomatoes to the stew, squashing them in your hands to help them collapse, then return the casserole to the oven for another 45 minutes. After the beef has been cooking for 1½ hours, take it out of the oven and baste with the juices. Check there is enough liquid and, if necessary, add more stock or water from the kettle – the juices should gradually reduce and thicken, but there needs to be enough to not quite cover the beef. Lay the slices of potato over the top, a layer at a time, seasoning each layer with a little salt and pepper, a little blob of butter here and there and a light drizzle of olive oil – I aim for about three layers, so that the potatoes take on the flavour of the stew and can become crisp and golden. You may have some left over depending on the size of the pot. Lightly grease the lid with butter to prevent the potatoes from sticking. Increase the oven temperature to 180C/gas mark 4.
Return to the oven with the lid on and cook for a further 45 minutes, then remove the lid, turn up the oven to 200C /gas mark 6 and cook for a further 30 minutes until the potatoes are golden on top.
Serve with English mustard and salad.
From Kitchen Memories by Lucy Boyd (HarperCollins, RRP £20). Click here to order it from the Guardian Bookshop for £15
Marcella Hazan’s bolognese meat sauce
Ragú, as the Bolognese call their celebrated meat sauce, is characterised by a mellow, gentle, comfortable flavour that any cook can achieve by being careful about a few basic points:
- The meat should not be too lean a cut; the more marbled it is, the sweeter will the ragú be. The most desirable cut of beef is the neck portion of the chuck.
- Add salt immediately when sautéing the meat to extract its juices for the subsequent benefit of the sauce.
- Cook the meat in milk before adding wine and tomatoes to protect it from the acidic bite of the latter.
- Do not use a demi-glace or other concentrated brown sauces that tip the balance of flavours toward harshness.
- Use a pot that retains heat. Earthenware is preferred in Bologna, but enamelled cast-iron or a pot whose heavy bottom is composed of layers of steel alloys are perfectly satisfactory.
- Cook, uncovered, at the merest simmer for a long, long time; no less than 3 hours is necessary, more is better.
Serves 6
vegetable oil 2 tbsp
butter 45g
onion 85g, chopped
celery, 3 sticks, chopped
carrots 4 medium, chopped
ground beef chuck (see note above) 350g
salt and freshly ground black pepper
full-fat milk 250ml
whole nutmeg
dry white wine 250ml
tinned imported Italian plum tomatoes 500g, cut up, with their juice
pasta 550–675g
parmigiano-reggiano freshly grated
cheese for the table
RECOMMENDED PASTA There is no more perfect union in all gastronomy than the marriage of Bolognese ragú with homemade Bolognese tagliatelle.
Put the oil, butter and chopped onion in the pot, turn the heat to medium and sauté the onion until it becomes translucent. Add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.
Add the beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the beef with a fork, stir well and cook until it has lost its raw red colour.
Add the milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating – about ⅛ teaspoon of nutmeg and stir.
Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all the ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time.
While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, continue the cooking, adding 125ml water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.
Toss with cooked, drained pasta and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
From The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan (Macmillan, RRP £30). Click here to order it from the Guardian Bookshop for £22.50
Vivek Singh’s oven braised lamb shank rogan josh
This traditional curry house favourite works beautifully with whole lamb shanks braised in the oven – it would be just as successful using mutton or goat.
Make the ginger and garlic paste by peeling the ginger and garlic and whizz together with as little water as possible in a blender to make a fine paste.
Serves 4
lamb shanks 4, French trimmed (your local butcher will be able to do this for you)
corn oil or ghee 5 tbsp
black cardamom 2 pods, lightly crushed using mortar and pestle
cinnamon sticks 2
black peppercorn ½ tsp
onions 2 large, finely chopped
salt 1½ tsp
ginger and garlic paste 2 tbsp
Kashmiri chilli powder 1½ tbsp
ground coriander seeds ½ tsp
plain yoghurt 200ml
lamb stock 500ml (optional) or water
ground dry ginger 1 tsp
ground fennel seeds 1 tsp
ground garam masala ½ tsp
cream 2 tbsp
coriander 1 tbsp, chopped
Tempering (optional)
ghee 1 tbsp
rattan jyoth 2 sticks or ½ a crushed beetroot, to add colour
In a large pot bring water to a boil, enough water to immerse the shanks in, and blanch the shanks for 2–3 minutes in boiling water. Drain, let cool enough to handle then using a sharp knife, removed the surface fat, any gristle or skin which should come off easily. Pat the lamb shanks dry using kitchen towel and set aside.
Heat the oil/ghee in a heavy bottomed pot/ casserole dish that you have a lid for, add the crushed cardamom, cinnamon sticks and peppercorn and stir for 30 seconds or so until they release their flavours in the oil. Now add the shanks and ½ a teaspoon of salt, sear on a high heat turning frequently to brown the meat on all sides, say around 10 minutes or so. Take care not to overload the pan, it simply leaches the juices out and stews the meat. Once browned remove the meat and drain on a kitchen towel. Into the same pan, add the onions and the rest of the salt, cook for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Add the ginger and garlic pastes and cook for a further couple of minutes. The paste tends to stick to the pan, so keep stirring continuously. Add the chilli powder and ground coriander and cook for a further 2 minutes, then whisk the yoghurt and add slowly, a little at a time, mixing it through the masala, to prevent the yoghurt splitting. When all the yoghurt has been incorporated and mixed evenly, add the seared shanks and stir for a couple of minutes. Next add water or lamb stock, cover with a tight lid and braise in an oven at 150–170C/gas mark 2–3 for 2–2½ hours until the shanks are soft. You could add some lamb stock or water to cook the meat if the sauce is thick or it requires more moisture to cook. If using mutton or goat, it will certainly take 2½ hours or over.
If you do not have a pot with a lid, the pot-roasted and browned meat could be put in a braising tray, covered with the liquid and tin foil and braised for about 2 hours.
Check that the meat is cooked; it should easily fall off the bone when it’s done, then sprinkle over the ground ginger, fennel and garam masala. Cover and set aside.
Remove the meat from the sauce, add 2 tbsp of cream and 1 tbsp of chopped green coriander, check seasoning and correct as necessary, and pour over the meat.
For an extra special effect of rattan jyoth heat the ghee in a pan, wet a muslin cloth with water and squeeze lightly, tie up the rattan jyoth/beetroot in the cloth, add to the ghee and let it infuse for a minute.
Add the infused ghee to the shanks and simmer for 2 minutes. When the sauce turns dark red in color, take out and discard the muslin. Serve with either steamed or boiled basmati rice or a bread of your choice.
Recipe adapted from Spice at Home by Vivek Singh (Absolute Press, RRP £25). Click here to order it from the Guardian Bookshop for £18.75
Meera Sodha’s black dal makhani
This is a recipe for one of the world’s finest dishes. It takes exactly 142 minutes and 47 stirs to make, and it is worth every single one. Give it time and it will reward you handsomely with the most captivating, indulgent dal you’ve ever eaten, full of earthy, smoky flavours, rich deep tomato and warm buttery notes.This dal can also be made a day in advance.
Serves 8
urad dal (black lentils) 400g
unsalted butter 60g, plus 30g to finish
onions 2 large, finely sliced
ginger 4cm, peeled and finely chopped
garlic 10 cloves, crushed
tomato purée 6 tbsp
salt 1¾ tsp
chilli powder ¾ tsp (or to taste)
whole milk 400ml
In a sieve, rinse the urad dal in a couple of changes of cold water, until the water runs clear, then drain and put into a deep pan – they will double in volume while soaking. Cover with a generous amount of just-boiled water and leave them to soak for at least 6 and up to 24 hours.
Once they’ve finished soaking, rinse them, drain and put back into the pan. Cover them with cold water and bring to the boil, then continue boiling for 45 minutes. Scrape off any scum that forms on the top and discard.
Meanwhile, put 60g of butter into a frying pan on a medium heat. When it starts to foam, add the onions and cook for 15 minutes, then add the ginger and garlic. Fry for another 5 minutes. It’s not worth skimping on the time here: the longer you cook these (without burning), the more flavoursome your dal will be. Add the tomato purée, salt and chilli powder, stir well, then take off the heat and set aside.
Once boiled, the dal should be soft enough to crush against the side of the pan. When it is done, keep enough water in the pan to just cover them and drain the rest off. Add the onion and tomato mixture and the milk, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer.
Stir every now and then for around 1½ hours. If the sauce starts to run low, over time, top it up with an equal mixture of whole milk and water. The sauce will start to turn darker, richer and creamier. If the dal is not rich and dark after 1½ hours, give it some more time – you can’t do this dish any harm by cooking it for a little longer.
Taste, adjust the salt and chilli if necessary, add the remaining butter just before serving and stir. Serve alongside rice or hot fluffy naans.
From Made in India, Cooked in Britain: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen by Meera Sodha (Fig Tree, RRP £20). Click here to order it from the Guardian Bookshop for £15.00
