week 28 - Jamie's Italian - Jamie Oliver

While it's easy to focus on the all things we had to stop doing, it's also nice to experience some 'firsts' as lockdown has eased. First draft pint beer; first brunch out; first train journey; first time back in the office (who thought that would ever be welcomed). And, best of all, first time seeing family since Christmas; when my aunt, uncle and cousin came down South for a stay.

In a bittersweet twist, it also coincided with the dates when my sister and family were supposed to be visiting from Oz. But while they couldn't be here, we could at least toast them with a couple of bottles of wine from the vineyard she and my brother-in-law got married in - just outside Sienna - one of which has been under the stairs for the last eight years. Stowed away we managed to get it home intact in our suitcase after celebrating the big day.

To go with the wine I wanted some big Tuscan flavours, and peposo, or hunters stew, made with huge amounts of fresh black pepper and more wine, While took the recipe from Jamie's Italian, a book I first remember first getting when I worked as a bookseller, many moons ago, and living with a vegetarian. Needless to say I never made this, although the recipe I always really wanted to make was the turkey tetrazzini - a kind of retro pasta bake made with spaghetti in a creamy mushroom sauce - perhaps one for next time.

As well as the black pepper the beef stew is bolstered by garlic; which coincided with the first main crop harvest from the allotment. And we also welcome bit of sunshine that allowed the Ewing to finally dry it out on the patio. 

The rest of the supporting cast was made up of herbs - bay and rosemary, both from the front garden - a tin of tomatoes (absent in Jamie's recipe but, I think, a welcome addition) and a while bottle of decent (ish) red wine. Italian of course.

Of course, the beef is the real star of the show. Jamie uses slices of bone in shin, but I went with beef ribs. I think bones always add an extra unctousness when making slow cooked stews, but I also found recipes when I was researching that used boneless chunks of chuck, flank or neck. Just make sure it's not too lean.

The execution could not have been simpler. Everything in the pot, and then into the oven to slow cook until the meat falls from the bone and the gravy is rich and glossy. I didn't even brown the meat. Like most stews, this is better the day after. Which also means you can just put it back on the hob to reheat, giving you more time to sit and drink wine with your guests. 

Peposo - Tuscan beef and black pepper stew

Adapted from Jamie's Italy

2kg beef on the bone (ribs, or shin) 

1 bulb of garlic, unpeeled and broken into cloves

1 tbsp whole peppercorns

1 tsp sea salt

a good grinding of coarsely ground black pepper

one bottle of red wine, preferably Italian, nothing too fancy

3 bay leaves

a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 tin chopped tomatoes

Pre-heat the oven to 150c

Place the ribs in a large pot, add all the remaining ingredients, making sure the meat is covered. Put the lid on and place in the oven for about three hours, stirring every half an hour or so, or until the meat is falling from the bones.

Take the meat from the pot and leave to cool.

If the gravy is looking thin, place the pot on the hob and reduce until thickened.

When the meat is cool enough to handle, shred from the bones, removing any pieces of fat or cartilage.

Add the meat back to the thickened gravy.

Best reheated the next day and served with cannelini beans, polenta, mash or crusty bread. Good wine and great company.

Week 11 - The Prawn Cocktail Years - Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham

The Ewing and I we very lucky to enjoy a trip to Paris for our second wedding anniversary a few weeks ago (we actually got married in 2012, but we chose to do it on leap day. Despite the four year warning, I still forgot to buy a card...). 

Predictably, the food was wonderful and we ate our way through most of the classics; steak frites, onion soup, profiteroles, rum baba, daily croissants, and crottins of deep fried chevre. Or, more prosaically, goat's cheese nuggets, picked up from McDonalds on a drunken walk home from dinner.

It seems you can't have too much of a good thing, as on our return all I could think about was how we had friends coming for Sunday lunch and how I wanted to cook boeuf bourginon or coq au vin, after finding recipes for both in Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham's wonderfully retro Prawn Cocktail years. Finally settling on the beef, as we had some beautiful bone-in shin sitting waiting in the freezer.

As things turned out, they had to unavoidably cancel last minute. But the beef shin was already out of the freezer and we had rather a lot of fresh beer we had picked up after our local brewery had shut for the last time (RIP Fishers), that was waiting to be drunk. So I changed tack and went for plan C, again seeking inspiration from the Prawn Cocktail Years, and plumped for carbonnade flamande, a Belgian stew slow cooked with onions, beef and beer.

As it happens it made a fitting end for one of the last casks of Red Rye, one of my favourites of all the beers Fisher's brewed, and there was still plenty left for us to enjoy alongside the finished stew. I also served the classic Belgian accompaniment wortelstoemp, or mashed potato and carrot, which not only soaked up all the beery gravy, but is also really fun to say. 

Alternatively pair with plain boiled spuds, chips or slices of crusty baguette. And a beer.

Carbonnade flamande - adapted from the Prawn Cocktail Years

2 kg of chuck, cheek or shin, cut in inch cubes or left in slices

4 large onions, peeled, halved and sliced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 pint/500ml bottle of beer or ale

500ml water

1 beef stock cube

1 heaped tbsp of flour

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 bay leaves

1 heaped tbsp wholegrain mustard

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

Brown the beef in batches in olive oil in a frying pan until nicely coloured and set aside.

Heat a good glug of olive oil in a large casserole dish, add onions and cook on a medium heat until they are soft. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add flour and the browned beef to the onions and stir well.

Add the beer, water, stock cube, nutmeg, bay leaves, mustard, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.

Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven. Cook for at least 2 and a hours, stirring every now and then, or until the beef is falling apart. Remove the lid for the last half an hour of cooking if it looks like there is too much liquid.