Tag: wine

• 

  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Osso Buco Slow Cooker

  Considering how much I love lamb shanks I am surprised it took me this long to cook Osso Buco for the first time. I always use Hugh’s recipe for the shanks (River Cottage’s Citrus Braised Lamb Shanks) so it is a no surprise I am using his Osso Buco Alla Milanese.

  You will be using thick slices of beef or veal shins with the shin bone still present. Look at the beautiful rich colour.

  

  The result was tender beef that was falling off the bone and a lovely sauce that was hearty but less fatty than you would get cooking with lamb.

  Note: Pop this on early in the day because it might take 6 hours or more on your slow cooker’s medium setting.

  You will be:

  1. Preparing everything
  2. Sealing the beef shins
  3. Sweating the vegetables
  4. Slow cooking everything
  5. Serving

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 4 – 6 slices of beef shin with the bone still in the middle (about 1.3kg)
    • enough plain white flour to coat the shins
    • table salt and cracked black peppercorns to taste
    • 50g salted butter
    • A couple of slugs olive oil
    • 2 garlic cloves, diced
    • 2 celery sticks and their leaves, chopped
    • 2 brown onions, chopped
    • 1 carrot, chopped
    • A handful of snow peas, whole
    • 2 cups dry white wine
    • 2 cups stock (I have used homemade Slow Cooker Chicken Stock and Italian Beef Stock: Brodo Di Manzo but use anything you have to hand)
    • A handful of chopped mushrooms (optional)
  •  Equipment:
    • 1 long sharp knife
    • 1 chopping board
    • 1 frypan
    • 1 slow cooker

  Preparing everything

  1. While you  let the beef shins come to room temperature prepare the:
     • 2 garlic cloves, diced
     • 2 celery sticks chopped
     • 2 brown onions, chopped
     • 1 carrot, chopped
     • a handful of snow peas, whole
  2. Dry the beef shin slices with paper towel, season with salt and pepper and then dust them in the flour.

  

  

  Sealing the beef shins

  1. Turn your slow cooker on to high, add a slug of olive oil and cover.
  2. Melt the 50g of salted butter in a frypan and then add a good slug of olive oil.
  3. Brown both sides of the shins (if they start to curl on you during cooking, clip the outer ring of connective tissue with kitchen shears).
  4. Add them to the slow cooker.

  

  

  Sweating the vegetables

  1. Add the 2 cups white wine and the 2 cups of stock to the same frypan and bring to a gentle boil.
  2. Reduce the heat to low and then add the vegetables.
  3. Cook until they soften and then add everything to the slow cooker.

  

  Slow cooking everything

  Turn the slow cooker down to medium or low and cover. Mine took 6 hours before the beef was ready.

  Serving

  Serve on a bed of basmati rice with extra vegetables and some of Hugh’s gremolata.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Related Links:

  • see all recipes using beef here
  • see all slow cooker dishes here
  • see more River Cottage posts here

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  September 22, 2017

• 

  PK’s Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

  This mouth-watering dish is designed to be super thrifty and dead easy to boot. I managed to use some old tired veggies and to get a free-range chook on special. I am also happy to say it took longer to eat the dish than it did to prepare it.

  I simply took a whole chicken, patted it dry and stuffed it with a whole lemon. I then rubbed a very generous amount of garlic salt, celery salt, ground black pepper and parsley flakes into the skin. The bird then went into a slow cooker that already had a bed of roughly chopped onions, carrots, a whole garlic bulb and a cup of white wine.

  

  8 hours on low and the meat was moist and falling off the bone 🙂 . I was very pleased because chicken is a lean meat and can dry out in a slow cooker if you are not careful.

  

  

  Serving

  I served it with some extra steamed vegetables on a bed of white basmati rice.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  P.S. I have a oven variant of this recipe here.

  And here are some more chicken dishes and slow cooker recipes: 

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  September 15, 2017

• 

  Junmai Sake Rice Wine

  I use this Japanese style rice wine in my stir fries and sauces. It is made in Australia from Japonica rice and really packs a taste punch with a dry finish. This type of sake hasn’t had any spirits added to it and is around 13% alcohol.

  Depending on the recipe I might use it instead of dry sherry or Chinese style rice wine for a different flavour. See PK Makes Beef in Oyster Sauce for example.

  If you don’t want to cook with any alcohol however, you can substitute an equal amount of water in its stead.

  

  Related Links:

  • see all recipes using rice wine here
  • see all recipes using wine here
  • see more Japanese cooking posts here
  • see all ingredients here

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  September 3, 2017

• 

  PK Makes Ching He Huang’s Beef in Oyster Sauce

  My hat off to the BBC chef Ching He Huang and her simple but flavoursome Beef in Oyster Sauce recipe.

  This dish caught my eye because it calls for tenderising, with a mallet or rolling pin, beef eye fillet (tenderlion) steaks. I can see you shaking your head but trust me it is a transformational part of the recipe. The meat literally melts in your mouth!

  

  Ching’s “… approach is to demystify the notion that Chinese cooking is complicated and time consuming by demonstrating traditional recipes that can be easily adapted for the home cook…”.

  Mission accomplished!

  You will be

  1. Bashing and flash seasoning the beef.
  2. Stir frying the vegetables
  3. Stir frying the beef
  4. Serving

  You will need

  • Ingredients (as the only main it served 2 adults and a hungry toddler very well):
    • 350g beef eye fillet steaks
    • 1 tsp light soy sauce
    • 1.5 Tbsp oyster sauce
    • a pinch of raw sugar
    • ground rock salt and ground black peppercorns
    • 2 slugs of peanut oil
    • 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
    • 300g baby spinach leaves
    • 1 carrot, chopped into matchsticks
    • a handful of snow peas, sliced or whole
    • 1 Tbsp dry Sherry
    • 1 cup of your favourite rice (mine is basmati)
  •   Equipment
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • several sheets of baking paper
    • a bowl for marinading the meat
    • a tenderising mallet or a rolling pin
    • a wok or deep fry pan
    • a serving dish

  Steps:

  Bashing and flash seasoning the beef

  1.  Place the eye fillet steaks in between two sheets of baking paper and bash the stuffing out of it with a rolling pin or tenderising mallet. I know right :).
  2. Thinly slice the bashed beef and place into a bowl.
  3. Season with the:
     • 1 tsp light soy sauce
     • 1.5 Tbsp oyster sauce
     • a pinch of raw sugar
     • ground rock salt and black peppercorns to taste.

  

  

  

  

  Stir frying your vegetables

  1. Chop and slice all of the vegetables.
  2. Add a slug of peanut oil to the frypan and get it nice and hot.
  3. Add the 3 cloves garlic (finely diced) and chopped chili to taste if you like it hot.
  4. Add the 1 carrot (sliced into sticks).
  5. Add the handful of snow peas.
  6. Keep everything moving all the time and then when you think it is time chuck in the 300g baby spinach leaves.
  7. As soon as the spinach leaves wilt and become warm put the whole lot into a serving dish. I sometimes cover them to keep everything piping hot.

  

  

  

  Stir frying the beef

  1. Add another slug of peanut oil to the frypan and get it nice and hot again.
  2. Add the now seasoned beef slices and stir fry for a few minutes at most, remember that they will continue to cook after you take them out of the pan. We don’t want them to be chewy.
  3. Pour the 1 Tbsp dry Sherry over the meat and quickly toss everything.
  4. Add the now cooked beef to the cooked vegetables waiting in the serving dish.

  

  Serving

  Serve from a central dish and let everyone take what they need. Make sure there is plenty of rice and good conversation. 🙂

  

  

  Thanks again to Ching,

  PK

  Here are some more Chinese and asian fusion posts: 

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  November 17, 2016