Soy beef salad

Light, bright and packed full of flavour. The type of meal you feel all the better for having consumed.

Ingredients
700g piece of eye fillet
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 thumb sized pieces of ginger, skin removed, finely diced
2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves
1 bunch coriander
2 red chillies, sliced
fried shallots (from Asian supermarkets)
cooked rice, to serve

Dressing
4 tablespoons oysters sauce
2 lemons, juiced
1 teaspoon caster sugar

Method
Halve the beef fillet lengthwise. Marinate in soy sauce anywhere from 5 minutes to overnight – depending on the amount of time you have.

Prepare dressing – mix together the oyster sauce, lemon juice and sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Taste and adjust flavours if necessary.

Thinly slice beef – around 5mm thick. Finely dice ginger.

Heat a frypan over a high heat, add olive oil. Throw beef in the pan sprinkle with ginger. Sear beef for a minute or so each side.

To serve, place a serving of rice and a handful of baby spinach leaves. Add beef, sprinkle with chopped chilli and coriander. Drizzle with sauce then top with fried shallots.

Serves 4

Adapted from Soy beef with tatsoi salad published in delicious. magazine March 2007.

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Spanish Casserole

This lovely rich beef casserole topped with scrolled dumplings, a recipe from my Grandma’s collection, is one of my favourite winter dishes. Most girls in our family have a photocopy of this dish somewhere in our recipe clippings. The irresistible dumplings are definitely worth the little bit of extra effort and look terrific.

Ingredients
Casserole
1 kg stewing steak (oyster blade is best)
1/2 cup grated cheddar/tasty cheese
2 bacon rashers
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup water
1 beef stock cube
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato puree (or canned tomatoes)
2 large onions
salt and pepper

Scone topping
2 cups self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup milk
1 tomato chopped
1/2 onion finely diced
salt and pepper
a little milk

Method
Get prepared by slicing the onions, cutting steak into strips,  grating the cheese and chopping the bacon.

Heat a casserole pan with a lid over a medium to high heat. Melt butter. Add the steak then top with cheese and pepper. Fry until the meat is brown then remove.

Add onions, cook until soft.

Add Worcestershire sauce, water, tomato puree, stock cube, bacon, a good grind of pepper and a sprinkle of salt and mix well.*

Cover and cook in a 170 degree oven for 2 hours.

Meanwhile prepare the scone topping. Sift flour into a large bowl, rub butter into the flour using your fingers. Add salt and the milk. Mix to form a soft dough.

Tip onto the bench and knead for a minute.

Heat a small saucepan with a lid and saute the onion until golden, add tomato, salt and pepper. Cover and cook together for about 5 minutes.

Grab a rolling-pin or wine bottle, and roll out the dough until it is about the size of an A4 piece of paper and just under 5mm thick.

Spread with the tomato and onion mixture (leave about a 1cm border around the edge).

Roll from the longest edge to form a long log. Slice into rings about 1cm thick then press each scone to flatten a little. Set aside.

After 2 hours, remove casserole from the oven. Top with the scone rings and brush with milk. Pop the casserole back in the oven and cook uncovered for another 20 minutes or until the scones are golden brown.

Serve with steamed greens.

Serves 6

From The Women’s Weekly Complete Scone Book (published in 1970).

If you are really short on time you can skip browning the meat and caramelising the onions and place all the ingredients together in the casserole and pop it straight into the oven.

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Corned beef

Old-school, cool weather comfort food. I always buy more silverside than we need for dinner so we can have leftovers the next night and corned beef sandwiches for lunch during the week.

Ingredients
Corned beef
1.5kg silverside
3 tablespoons mustard of your choice
1/4 cup white vinegar (apple cider vinegar also works well)
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 onion, sliced
10 whole peppercorns
2 bay leaves

Sides
Potatoes for roasting (good roasters include King Edward, Tasmanian Pink Eye, Dutch Cream, Nicola, Desiree and Pontiac)
2 carrots
400g brusssel sprouts, halved.
olive oil
butter

White sauce
30g butter
30g plain flour
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
salt and pepper

Method
For the corned beef – coat the silverside with mustard then place in a large saucepan. Cover the meat with cold water and add the vinegar.

Slice lemon, orange and onion and add to the saucepan along with the peppercorns and bay leaves.

Bring ingredients to the boil then reduce to a simmer.

Cover with a lid and cook for 1 hour. At the end of the cooking time remove from heat and allow to stand in the water for 10 – 15 minutes.

White sauce – I like to make the sauce  early so it is ready to go when serving the meal.

Heat milk in the microwave or in a small saucepan until it is hot (but not boiling).

Heat saucepan, add and melt butter. Sprinkle in the flour and cook together over a medium heat for a couple of minutes.

Gradually add the hot milk. Whisk until the sauce thickens. Add parsley and season to with salt and pepper (you may also like to add half a teaspoon of mustard). Set aside. (A skin may form – just give the sauce a quick whisk to remove).

Veggies – Preheat the oven to 200C. Chop potatoes. Throw into a baking dish with olive oil and cook for about 40 minutes, until golden. (Carrots can be added to the potatoes to roast – or steamed below).

Half the brussel sprouts.

Steam together the brussel sprouts and carrots for 7 minutes. If you prefer steamed veggies steam for another couple of minutes. Sauteing the brussel sprouts develops the nutty flavour. Heat olive oil in a pan add brussel sprouts cut side down and fry for 5 mintes over a medium heat. Leave the brussel sprouts to cook without moving them around the pan.

To serve – reheat the sauce, slice corned beef and add your choice of sides. Top carrots and brussel sprouts with butter. Grind pepper over the lot. As the corned beef is already salty you’ll probably find that only the veggies need a sprinkle of salt.

Leftovers – we love corned beef sandwiches. – either sliced – or Mum’s way. For every two thick slices of beef (roughly chopped), thickly dice about half an onion. Whiz together in a food processor until finely ground. Add a generous tablespoon of tomato sauce and a grind of pepper. Process into a thick paste.  Taste and adjust quantities as necessary. Spread on fresh white buttered bread. Yummo! Also works well with leftover roast beef.

Serves 4 – 6

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Beef and Guinness Pie

Who can resist a hearty pie topped with a crisp, flakey pastry lid? Especially appealing with the winter months on our doorstep.

As the filling needs a couple of hours to cook, this is a great Sunday night dinner. Or make the filling one evening when you are preparing something else for dinner. The next night, heat the beef, pop on the pastry lid and dinner will be ready in no time!

Ingredients
700g gravy/chuck/other stewing steak, diced into bite sized pieces
sea salt and ground pepper
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
4 sticks of celery, chopped*
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
1 potato peeled and chopped
about 3/4 cup of mixed, chopped fresh herbs (around 1 tablespoon rosemary, 1 teaspoon thyme, 3 bay leaves and a good half a cup of parsley works well)
1 pint (565ml) Guinness (you may need to buy two cans)
2 x 400g tins of tomatoes
1 pack puff pasty
2 tablespoons milk or 1 egg (for pastry wash)

Method
Beef and Guinness pie filling – prepare vegies – dice together the carrot, celery, potato and parsnips. Dice onion separately and set aside. Chop herbs, place to the side.

Put meat in a bowl and season generously with sea salt and ground pepper. Sprinkle with flour and toss to coat.

Heat a large casserole dish or saucepan.

Add a couple of glugs of olive oil and brown the meat in two batches (you may find you need to add more oil for the second batch).

Return the first batch of meat to the pan along with the onions. Cook together for a minute then add the carrot, celery and parsnips and herbs. Cook for about 3 minutes.

Add Guinness give the ingredients a good stir then pour in the canned tomatoes. Bring the mix to a boil, then drop to a simmer, uncovered for 2 hours. Stir from time to time.

After 2 hours the meat should be lovely and tender and the sauce richly thickened. Check seasoning – you may need to add some salt and pepper, and remove bay leaves.

At this point the filling can be turned into pies right away or stored in the fridge for later use. (Or of course enjoyed as a stew.)

To prepare the pies – preheat oven to 200C and remove pastry from freezer.

Spoon filling into ramekins/bowls or one large pie dish. (If the filling has been in the fridge, pop into the microwave or saucepan to reheat – to avoid the disappointment of a cold middle).

Create pastry tops by cutting circles about 2cm wider than the top of the ramekins.

Place pastry on the top of the ramekins, pinching around the edge to secure.

Brush with milk or egg.

Place in the middle of a hot oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes after which time the pasty will be puffed, golden and flakey.

Serves 6

From Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Happy days indeed – lots of nice memories from cooking Jamie Oliver’s early recipes in our little flat in Hawthorn.

* if you don’t have a use for left over celery tops right away, pop into a zip lock page and freeze. The next time you make stock the celery will be on hand.

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