Linguine with Beef Rib in Red Wine Sauce

It's been 10 months since I last posted! During that time, I have completed my teaching induction year, gained a whole load of experience, not seen my family as much as I should have and reverted to same old, same old, boring meals. Mother's guilt - doing it all and feeling not particularly good at any of it. Still, my students have made progress, my family still love me and we've had a wonderful, chilled-out summer break.

Today I defrosted a pack of beef ribs which had been lurking in the freezer for a few months. In 2002 my then boyfriend booked a trip to Tuscany as a Valentine's gift. All of my friends were convinced he would propose (he didn't, even when we were on a bridge in Florence!). What sticks in my mind is the meal that our hosts cooked for us on the first night - pappardelle with hare. The sauce had been cooked in red wine for several hours and was just sublime.

I would have liked pappardelle with this dish, but one look at the queues into the shopping centre were enough to convince me that linguine would be fine. The beef rib is cooked in a slow-cooker and falls apart in a meltingly delicious way. I was worried that the chilli kick would be too much for the children, but on tasting the sauce they opted for it over yesterday's rather failed sweet and sour chicken. Even though the notoriously fussy little one had declared it his "favourite dish ever".

The beef is cooked in a slow-cooker but would be fine in a covered pan in an oven at around 120 degrees. If you aren't fond of heat, leave the chilli out.

Ingredients

• 2 beef ribs, approx. 500g
• 1 carrot
• 3 shallots
• 1-2 sticks of celery
• 80ml red wine
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 red chilli
• Ground black pepper to season
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• 350-400g linguine pasta (or use tagliatelle or pappardelle)

Serves 3-4

Method

• Dry the beef ribs on kitchen towels and season with black pepper
• Peel the shallots, cut into half and then slice into semi-circles
• Peel the carrot and dice finely and dice the celery. Using a sharp knife, perforate the skin of the chilli once or twice so that it doesn't inflate and explode during cooking
• In a bowl, mix the red wine, tomato puree and dried mixed herbs
• Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a pan until very hot. Add the beef ribs, browning well on all sides. Remove from the pan and place into the slow cooker
• Add the wine/puree/herb mixture and the chilli to the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 1/2 hours

Browned ribs with wine mixture in the slow cooker

• Heat the beef fat left in the pan gently and add the garlic. Bubble the garlic in the pan for a minute, taking care not to let it catch and burn
• Add the shallots to the pan, increase the heat to medium and stir for 1 minute to coat and soften
• Add the celery and carrots to the pan and stir for 2 minutes
• Add the vegetable mixture to the slow-cooker, cover and continue to heat on slow for a further 1 1/2 hours

Adding the vegetables to the slow cooker

• When the sauce is ready, remove the chilli and the ribs. Discard the chilli and the bones and shred the meat with a fork, removing any tough or sinewy bits
• Return the meat to the slow-cooker and mix well

The finished sauce - just add the pasta and a bit of extra virgin olive oil!

• Cook 75-100g per person of linguine, according to pack instructions. When al dente, drain the pasta in a colander. Return to the pan, add the sauce and 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil and mix well
• Serve immediately on warmed plates

Linguine with Beef Rib in Red Wine Sauce

Bucatini with Beef Meatballs

My middle child doesn't have friends over to play often, due to crazy logistics this year for the children, and us parents. Sometimes it feels as if we are ruled by the schedule of (particularly my eldest's) various extra-curricular activities, but a few friends have assured me that this happens in their households too. This year, we are starting him on some of the same classes as his sister, and next year I hope that everything will become easier when they are (hopefully) all at the same school.

This is the last week that I will be home relatively early (early enough to do school pick-up), so we have taken a few days to have his friends around to play. On Tuesday I did egg-fried rice, which didn't go down too well (and I hate sending a child home without being sure that they are full), so I found out in advance what today's guest likes eating. It turns out he loves meatballs, so I procrastinated until 10pm last night, then got on with it.

Whilst the sauce was cooking, I found out that our guest wasn't a fan of vegetables ("I don't eat them"). But he did say he ate pasta sauce, so once the sauce was cooked, I took a stick blender to it and pureed it all. The smooth texture of the sauce worked well with the meatballs, so I'll probably continue to puree in the future.

I normally prefer to use a combination of pork and beef for meatballs, but didn't remember to defrost any pork. These meatballs are easy to make and cook, and freeze well for a standby dinner.

Middle child, despite cleaning his plate (save one meatball, which was snaffled by his sister), protested that the meatballs were not as nice as the ones served in the school canteen!

 

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 400g beef mince (I used 10% fat Aberdeen Angus mince)
• 4 tbsp. stale breadcrumbs (I used wholemeal bread, which I had previously whizzed in a processer and put in the freezer)
• 2 tsp chopped mixed herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram) or 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 5-6 twists of freshly ground black pepper

Makes approx. 35 meatballs

Sauce

• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 1 stick of celery, finely diced
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 x 400g tins of peeled plum tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 50g cubed pancetta (or use sliced streaky bacon)
• 1 red chilli
• Ground black pepper to season
• Olive oil and/or sunflower oil for frying
• (Optional) Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
• (Optional) Grated cheese

Instructions

(Meatballs)

• Place the mince, breadcrumbs, chopped herbs, garlic, egg, parmesan cheese and pepper into a large bowl. Using your hands, squidge everything together until the mixture is thoroughly combined
• Line a plate or tupperware box with greaseproof paper. Take a small amount of the mince mixture in your hands and roll it to make a meatball, around 2.5 - 3cm diameter. Make sure that the mixture holds firm and place on the plate/box. Repeat, placing the meatballs a small distance apart from each other. I use a box, and interleave the meatballs with greaseproof paper
• Cover the plate/box with clingfilm or a lid, and place in the fridge overnight

Beef meatballs, ready for the Fridge

(Dish)

• Heat a heavy-based pan and add 2 tbsp. olive oil. Heat until the oil is moderately hot and add the pancetta. Brown the pancetta, then add the onions and garlic and stir for 3-4 minutes until the onions are glossy and softened (don't let the garlic catch and burn)
• Add the diced carrot to the pan and stir for a further 4-5 minutes
• Add the plum tomatoes, rinsing out each tin with approx. 1/4 tin of water and adding to the pan
• Add the tomato puree, celery, dried mixed herbs and balsamic vinegar and stir well to combine
• Using a knife, pierce the chilli a couple of times, then add to the sauce
• Bring the sauce to the boil, then cover and lower the heat to a simmer
• Simmer the sauce for45 minutes, until the vegetables are soft
• Remove the chilli, then puree the sauce until smooth with a stick blender, and add some more water if it seems too thick. Continue to simmer on a low heat, covered, whilst you cook the meatballs and pasta
• Heat 2 tbsp. olive or sunflower oil in a frying pan and add the meatballs (approx. 6 per child or 8 per adult). Brown the meatballs until they have a lovely rich colour

Brown the meatballs until they have a lovely rich colour

• Add the meatballs to the sauce, replace the lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes
• In the meantime, boil a large pan of salted water. Add a splash of oil, and add 100g per adult of pasta to the pan (I used bucatini, but any long pasta would be fine)
• Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the pack. When the pasta is ready, drain and place into warmed plates
• Add the meatballs to the pasta using a slotted spoon, then add generous amounts of the sauce to the dish
• (Optional) Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and add grated cheese (I used cheddar) and more ground black pepper if required
• Serve with a big glass of red wine

Bucatini with beef meatballs

Hearty Beef Casserole

I've yet to really fall in love with my slow cooker(s). For Chinese soups and congees, great. For big joints of red meat, such as a shoulder of lamb or pork, lovely. For melt-in-the-mouth slow-cooked beef flank and mooli, delicious. But for white meat and casserole, I haven't quite yet mastered it. Chicken is somehow lacking (maybe it's the uncrispy skin), and my casseroles end up more watery and thin than I would like, with the vegetables too soggy for my liking.

I bought some casserole beef from Sainsbury's on offer, and decided to try it in the slow cooker. I was looking to make something that didn't take too much faffing, and that I could chuck into the pot and switch on as I left the house in the morning. In order to get round previous challenges, I added pearl barley to the mix, and used Knorr beef gravy pots, which have a thicker consistency than beef stock. The result was attractive, and the boys cleaned their plates. There was a pleasant mix of textures - the beef was soft, the vegetables retained a tiny amount of bite, and the addition of soaked green split peas gave a nice, firm contrast. I prepared the vegetables the night before, then soaked them with the pearl barley and the split peas. It only took 5-10 minutes to prepare in the morning.

 

Ingredients

• 400g casserole beef
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1/2 small swede, peeled and diced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup pearl barley, rinsed
• 1/2 cup green split peas
• 560ml beef gravy, made using two Knorr beef gravy pots
• Ground black pepper
• 1-2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar

Serves 4-5

 

Instructions

• Peel the carrots and the swede, and dice into 1.5cm chunks
• Wash and trim the ends from the celery, and cut into 2cm chunks
• Place the carrots, swede and celery in a large pot of water, with the pearl barley and the green split peas. If you like, you can leave this in the fridge overnight
• In the morning, place the soaked and drained vegetables into the slow cooker, along with the chopped onion and the casserole beef
• Prepare the beef gravy according to the instructions on the pack. Place 2 gravy pots into 560ml of hot water in a pan, and heat slowly, whisking continuously. When the gravy boils, whisk at a gentle boil for one minute
• Add the gravy to the slow cooker, along with the black pepper, the oyster sauce and the sugar. Mix well to combine, and push any bits of beef below the surface of the mixture, to prevent them from drying out
• Switch the slow cooker onto low, and cook for 8 hours
• Serve with mashed potato or steamed rice

• 

Hearty Beef Casserole

Roast Rib of Beef

My childhood memories of Christmas are of all of my 婆婆's mates coming over on Christmas day: Uncle Jack and Aunty Chow Ping with Ang and Ben, 陳伯 and 陳母, 姑姐 and cousin Suzanne, and also the Tsai and Lee families. 婆婆 would cook a massive Chinese meal, with stir-fried king prawns in tomato sauce, steamed sea bass with ginger and spring onions, dried oysters cooked with hair moss (髮菜) and lettuce - there were many many more dishes, I remember the table used to heave with them. After the meal, 婆婆 would play mah jong with my dad and her friends. My mum and various aunties would watch Chinese videos and we children would be sent upstairs to play and chat. My memories are heavily laced with the smell of cigarettes and brandy, and the loud (and comforting) noise of mah jong tiles being swept around and mixed, occasionally accompanied by the loud bang of one being slammed onto the table, followed always by some cursing at the poor quality of the tile. This used to go on until at least two in the morning!

I don't know when we moved from a Chinese-style Christmas to a Western-style Christmas. It will probably have happened as my 婆婆's friends passed away, and she became more frail and less able to organise and rule our household. I can't even remember whether we ever had a Western-style Christmas whilst she was alive. I do remember my first ever attempt at a roast, aged maybe 15 years old. My dad was convinced I had the temperature settings all wrong, and kept sneaking past and turning up the heat on the oven. Eventually it came out burned to a crisp on the outside and bloody on the inside. We ended up slicing it, then stir-frying it with soy sauce.....

20-odd years later and we're still arguing about roasts! I used a halogen cooker for the joint this year, and he murmured "I think you should turn it", "perhaps you should turn it", "I would turn it if it was my roast", until I snapped and yelled "All right, all right! I'll turn it!", whilst my father-in-law creased up at the exchange. Once I'd taken the lid off, Dad then said "here, let me turn it, you don't know how to".... and once again I reverted to a petulant teenager (although I nearly dropped the roast in the process of turning it...).

This joint was enormous - 5.14kg in total, 17 people at the dinner table on Christmas day and we are still eating it 3 days later. It's since been turned into a very successful beef and tomato, and also accompanied noodles twice. I absolutely love The River Cottage Meat Cookbook, I find the temperatures and timings to be spot-on for roasting. I think that this book actually changed the way I think about and buy meat, and would thoroughly recommend it. A larger roast (greater than 3kg) requires a longer initial "sizzle" at high temperature, before a shorter cook at low temperature. I went for medium-rare, and the results were pretty well received. I was planning on taking photos of all of the trimmings, but got carried away and forgot. We had the roast with pigs in blankets, yorkshire puddings, sprouts with bacon, chestnuts and onions, mustard-roast potatoes, carrots boiled with orange and cumin, braised red cabbage, roasted golden beetroot in balsamic vinegar, and beef and red wine gravy. And copious condiments, of which horseradish was my favourite.

It's important to rest the joint once it comes out of the oven. This gives a chance for the juices to "settle" back into the meat, and even up the outside and the inside of the roast. I tend to put it on a warmed tray, cover it with foil, then throw a teatowel over the foil, and get on with making the trimmings.

 

Ingredients

• 1 rib of beef on the bone - I asked for 5 ribs, which came to 5.14kg (1 rib would serve around 3-4 adults)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sunflower oil

Serves 16-20

 

Instructions

• Pour a few tablespoons of sunflower oil into a bowl and add a teaspoon of salt and several grinds of black pepper. Mix together, then rub the mixture over the joint. If the joint is not already tied with string, bind it between the ribs - this will keep the meat nice and firm, and prevent excessive loss of the yummy juices during cooking.

It only just fit in the halogen oven!

• Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees fan, and place the joint inside. Cook at this temperature for 20 mins (joints up to 2kg), 30 mins (joints over 2kg) or 40 mins (joints over 3kg)
• After the initial sizzle, turn the oven down to 165 degrees fan. For a medium-rare joint, roast for 13 minutes per 500kg (joints up to 5kg), or 11 minutes per 500kg (joints over 5kg)

Halogen oven kept the meat lovely and moist

• (For guidance, I cooked this joint for 40 minutes at 220 degrees fan, then 115 minutes at 165 degrees fan, and turned it once, halfway through cooking)
• After roasting, remove the joint from the oven, cover it with kitchen foil, and rest for 30-45 minutes (this for me is the time to get the roasties and the rest of the trimmings on)

This is the roast when it came out of the oven

• Remove the string, carve into slices according to your desired thickness and serve immediately

Roast rib of beef

Brazilian Meatloaf

The credit for this recipe goes to the mum of my friend, Julio. I find that children look at it suspiciously, poke it around a bit with their forks, and after being persuaded to take a first bite, usually ask for seconds.

The first time we had this at Julio and Dani's house, the dish was accompanied by a really lovely cauliflower cheese - I don't know how he managed it, but Julio managed to wrap ham and cheese in and around the cauliflower, then take it out of the oven still looking like a whole cauliflower. It was a really lovely meal, and a really lovely day. I miss you guys!

I haven't made this for a while, but we had the school nativity on Friday, and some of the children's friends (and their mums, my friends!) came over after school. We haven't done it for a while, I think maybe once, since I started working full time in 2012, but it reminded me how much I miss doing it. Maybe early Friday leaving every so often could be a habit to adopt.

 

Ingredients

• 400g beef mince
• 1 packet (single portion) of powdered onion soup (use vegetable if you can't find onion)
• 1 egg
• 50g butter cut into cubes, preferably at room temperature (but don't stress if you forgot to take it out of the fridge, like me)
• 6-8 slices of thin ham
• A large handful of grated cheddar cheese
• Ground black pepper to season

Serves 3-4 adults or 6 children

 

Instructions

• If your packet soup mix contains croutons, pour it through a sieve, remove the croutons and add any dried vegetables back into the mix
• Place the beef mince, butter, egg, soup mix and ground black pepper in a large bowl and combine well. I get stuck in with my hands
• Lay a length of clingfilm onto a flat surface - about the size of a normal baking tray
• Place the beef mince mixture onto the clingfilm and roll/flatten with a rolling pin or your hands, until the mixture is 5-8mm thick. Aim for a rectangle shape
• Lay a single layer of sliced ham over the mince, then sprinkle a layer of grated cheese over that

• Using the clingfilm, roll the mince over, so that you a long, rather unsavoury looking roll of meat, wrapped in the clingfilm. Flatten slightly with your hand and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up

The less said, the better really!

• When you are ready to cook the meatloaf, remove the clingfilm and place on a baking tray. Place into an oven at 180 degrees fan for 25-30 minutes

• Remove from the oven, cut into slices around 2cm thick and serve. I like to serve with rice and assorted vegetables

Brazilian Meatloaf

Cottage Pie

I've just been away to Paris for a long weekend, to celebrate a significant anniversary. We had an absolutely wonderful time - despite buying a book of 10 metro tickets, we only used 3 each - to get from the airport, to get to Montmartre, and to get back to the airport. We walked and walked, and ate and drank, and slept. It was fab.

Part of the reason why it was so fab was that I felt freer from responsibility and forward planning than in day-to-day life. However, with usual uptighted-ness, everything was planned to the nth detail in the run-up - including a weekly plan and a drill of instructions for our nanny and my in-laws, and late-night cooking the day before we left - in case the children starved without me!

So there I was once again, piping mashed potato gone midnight. I mentioned in a previous post that M&S cottage pie was one of those great, exotic, non-Chinese dishes we were allowed to buy every so often, and it still brings me comfort, especially with a portion of rice. This recipe has a really tasty mince, with a few unusual ingredients in the sauce.

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• 2 medium onions, chopped finely
• 250ml beef stock
• 1tbsp sunflower oil for frying
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1-2 tbsp plain flour
• 1-2 tbsp Marmite
• 1 tbs worcester sauce (has to be Lea and Perrins for me)
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce for colour
• Plenty of ground black pepper
• Approx 1kg white floury potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
• (Optional) 1 handful of grated cheddar cheese
• 25g butter
• 2-3 tablespoons milk
• Salt and ground black pepper

Serves 4

Instructions

• Heat the sunflower oil in a heavy bottomed pan, and add the onions. Fry on a medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until softened - don't let the onions catch and burn
• Add the beef mince and turn up the heat, turning until the mince is browned
• Add the plain flour to the mixture and stir to mix in thoroughly. Cook for 2-3 minutes
• Add the beef stock, worcester sauce, tomato puree, Marmite, dark soy sauce and plenty of ground black pepper. Stir to combine well, cover the pan and reduce the heat. Cook for 45 minutes until the flavours are well combined and the sauce is thickened
• Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Boil gently for 25 minutes, then drain and return to the pan. Mash the potatoes, then add the butter and milk, with a touch of salt and ground black pepper. Adjust the milk until you have the consistency you require. Allow the potatoes to cool slightly whilst the mince is cooking
• Place the mince into a large baking dish

Mince for cottage pie - dark soy sauce gives it that lovely rich colour

• Add the potato on top, either spooning the mash on top, or piping it - working from the outside of the dish into the centre, and add a sprinkling of grated cheddar cheese on top if you like

(1 kg of potatoes gave me just under 2 layers of mash piped on top. You'll use more if you spoon the potato on top, but it should be ok)

Piped mashed potato and a sprinkling of grated cheddar

• Place in the oven at 185 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the mashed potato is browned and crispy on top (I let this cool and left it in the fridge overnight for heating up the next day

Cottage pie

Oxtail and Black Bean Soup (牛尾黑豆湯)

I've been feeling utterly utterly rotten over the past couple of weeks. After a week of soldiering on (taking telephone calls from my bed when I couldn't even walk!), and just not being able to shake it, I consulted Dr Google, who told me I had a terminal illness.

It turned out to be a nasty attack of tonsillitis, but it's been a sobering couple of days. You just expect to pick yourself up and get on with it, but everytime I exerted myself even a little, my recovery backtracked a few paces. Coupled with that, the toddler came down with a nasty case of chicken pox, meaning he couldn't leave the house - and he was so unsettled with a sick mum at home, I ended up hiding at my mum and dad's empty house, snatching a couple of hours' sleep when I could.

With my parents abroad on holiday, I've had to DIY it with the Chinese tonic soup. Their answer to everything lies in soup and I'm inclined to agree with them as the years go by. I searched high and low for a guinea fowl (found one in Sainsbury's Christleton), in the absence of a black-skinned chicken (烏雞) for improvising a soup, and I lived on it for a couple of days.

Tonight I'm making oxtail and black bean soup in the slow cooker. This is a lovely, hearty soup. The taste is fresh and savoury, with only a few simple ingredients. The oxtail and beans can be drained and served as a separate dish with rice - sprinkle over some light soy sauce, some ground white pepper and a few drops of sesame oil.

 

Ingredients

• 750g oxtail
• 150g dried black beans, soaked overnight
• 2 thick slices ginger, peeled and bashed with the flat of a cleaver
• 1/4 dried tangerine peel
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted in hot water (keep the water)
• 2 dried jujubes, reconsitituted in water, or alternatively 1 tsp sugar
• Salt to taste

Serves 4-6

 

Instructions

• If you have time, soak the oxtail for a couple of hours. Trim off as much excess fat as you can, place in a pan and pour over boiled water. Boil gently for about 5 minutes to remove the scum and impurities. Drain and rinse with cold water
• Drain the black beans and rinse with water. Place in a pan with fresh water and boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water
• Soak the tangerine peel in hot water until soft. Using a sharp knife, scrape any pith from the peel - this will make the soup bitter. Discard the pith
• Place the black beans, oxtail, tangerine peel, ginger, jujubes and shiitake mushrooms into a slow cooker. Add the mushroom-soaking water, then add 6 bowls of water until all of the ingredients are covered
• Switch on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours
• After cooking, skim any oil from the surface, taste the soup and add salt to taste. If you have not used jujubes, then add a teaspoon of sugar
• Serve with rice and vegetables - the oxtail and black beans can be served separately from the soup, with a little light soy sauce, white pepper and sesame oil to dress

Meat and beans served separately from the soup

Hearty dinner with some steamed rice and boiled broccoli

Lasagne

I don't make a lot of lasagne, as I find it a bit of a faff. However, we'd been eating spaghetti bolognaise for a few days, and we still hadn't finished that massive tub I'd taken out of the freezer. I made up the leftovers into a lasagne on Sunday night, for the children to have for their dinner on Monday. Then, shame of shame, instead of leaving it assembled in the fridge for our nanny to cook the next day, I cooked it in advance at 1am, just so that I could get the photo for my blog! Luckily, it wasn't too shrivelled up by the time the children got round to eating it, and they gobbled it up without complaint.

I find that the best way to get a lump-free bechamel sauce is to use a silicone whisk, which really gets into the edges of your saucepan.

To make a really lovely bechamel sauce, you could infuse your milk by heating it in a pan with some chopped onions, carrots, celery, a bay leaf and some peppercorns. Heat to just below boiling point, leave it to cool, then strain and use in your sauce. If you could be bothered, of course...

Ingredients

• A quantity of bolognaise sauce (5-6 ladle-fuls) - you can see my recipe here
• 40-50g of butter
• 2-3 heaped dessert spoons of plain flour
• Approx 3/4 to 1 pint of milk
• Approx 6-8 dried lasagne sheets
• A handful of grated cheese (I used cheddar)
• (optional) Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Serves 2-3

Instructions

Bechamel Sauce

• Melt the butter in a heavy-based pan until just beginning to bubble. Add the flour and stir to combine to a roux
• Add the milk, a little at a time, whisking constantly. The roux will absorb the milk and get quite lumpy to start with, but keep whisking and eventually it will begin to flow
• Once you have a glossy, thick sauce, lower the heat and stir occasionally, whilst you are building up your lasagne

Building the lasagne

• Take a lasagne dish and start with a thin layer of bolognaise sauce in the bottom. Dribble a layer of bechamel sauce over, and top with a layer of dried lasagne sheets
• Repeat with the bolognaise, bechamel and lasagne sheets until you have built the lasagne
• Finish with a covering of bechamel sauce, the sprinkle some grated cheese over the top

Lasagne ready for the oven

• Place in an oven at 190 degrees for 30 minutes
• Remove from the oven and serve - a simple salad with a vinaigrette makes a nice accompaniment

Fresh out of the oven (at 1 in the morning...)

Lasagne

Family Spaghetti "Bolognese"

This is bolognese in a loose sense of the word - purists would probably raise an eyebrow.

In my ideal world, there would be a glass of red wine and perhaps a chopped chicken liver or five in this recipe. I tend to chop the vegetables into very small pieces, and put the mushrooms into a food processor, which works well with the children. You can really bulk out the mix with lots of vegetables, and also add red lentils if you like. This one is a firm favourite with the middle child, who loves helping me to cook it, cleans his bowl and always asks for seconds.

 

Ingredients

• 2 onions, chopped finely
• 2 large carrots, chopped finely
• 1 stick of celery, chopped finely
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• 2 heaped dessert spoons of pancetta cubes or sliced streaky bacon
• 500g beef mince
• 1 X 400g tin of peeled plum tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon worcester sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• A handful of mushrooms, chopped finely (or whizzed in a food processor for the fungus-phobic)
• 1 dessert spoon dried, mixed herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary etc.)
• A splash of milk
• 1 beef stock cube, made up with 300ml boiling water
• (Optional) 1/2 a glass of red wine
• Sunflower oil for frying
• Splash of extra virgin olive oil to serve
• Ground black pepper to taste

Serves 8

 

Instructions

• Heat a splash of sunflower oil in a large, heavy-bottommed pan and add the pancetta when very hot. Stir around the pan, allowing it to brown
• Add the onions and stir until they soften and turn glossy
• Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, before adding the beef. Turn the heat to high and brown the mince all over
• Add the worcester sauce, carrots, celery, mushrooms and mixed herbs and mix well
• Add the tinned tomatoes, beef stock (and wine) and tomato puree. Bring to the boil, mixing well
• Add a splash of milk, which will make your sauce take on a more silky texture
• Add plenty of ground black pepper, lower the heat, partially cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. If necessary, break up the plum tomatoes at the end of the cooking time
• Add a splash of extra virgin olive oil to serve

The sauce improves in flavour if left overnight, and can be frozen in batches. My pasta of choice would be linguine or maybe tagliatelle, but any long pasta will do. The children like grated cheddar on top of the bolognese sauce, so I usually serve a bowl at the table, and they help themselves.

Family Spaghetti "Bolognaise"

Slow-Cooked Beef Flank with Mooli (牛腩炆蘿蔔)

This is my Dad's recipe, which is loved by all who taste it. You have to be bold with the flavours, and I think it will take me a couple of attempts to get it right. Mooli (or daikon) is a long white radish, which can be found in Asian grocery stores and larger supermarkets (or you could grow your own!).

Some of the ingredients will be hard to find outside of a Chinese supermarket - the rock sugar can be substituted with brown sugar, but I don't think you can replace the fermented red bean curd:

Red Fermented Beancurd (南乳)

Dad bought me a muslin pouch to hold the spices, which improves the texture of the final dish - once the spices have done their job, you can just remove the pouch from the stew. The end result is sticky and gelatinous, and goes well with rice or noodles.

I've made this dish in a slow-cooker, but it can also be made in a pan in an hour and a half - just make sure it doesn't cook too vigorously, or the beef will be tough.

Ingredients

• 450g beef tendon, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1kg beef flank, cut into large pieces - 4 to 5cm
• 1 mooli, roll-cut into wedges
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 1-2 star anise
• 3 cubes of red fermented beancurd (南乳) and a few spoonfuls of the sauce from the jar
• 5-6 slices peeled fresh ginger, bashed with the flat of a cleaver
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and bashed with the flat of a cleaver
• Small amount of rock sugar, approx. 1-2cm cube
• Cornflour for thickening
• Sunflower oil for frying
• (Optional) oyster sauce
• Few drops of sesame oil
• Chopped spring onion or coriander leaves to garnish

Serves 8-10

Instructions

• Heat the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, Sichuan peppercorns and star anise in a dry pan, moving around until aromatic. Allow to cool, place in the spice pouch and tie securely
• Place the tendon and the beef flank into a large pan, cover with water and bring to a slow simmer, to allow the scum to rise to the surface. After around 5 minutes, drain the beef and rinse away any scum
• Heat a couple of spoonfuls of oil in a wok or large pan, and add the ginger and garlic. Stir-fry until aromatic
• Add the beef flank and tendon, and stir-fry until the mixture is coated in the oil and slightly browned. Add the fermented beancurd and 2-3 dessert spoons of cornflour and mix well
• Transfer the mixture into a crockpot, add water to just below the surface and add the spice pouch and rock sugar. Set the crockpot to cook on low for 10 hours
• After 3 hours, add the mooli to the crockpot and mix well
• At the end of the cooking time, taste the sauce and add a few lugs of oyster sauce if it is not salty enough. If the sauce is not thick enough, add more cornflour/water mixture and bring back to the boil, stirring until thickened
• Remove from the heat, add a few shakes of sesame oil and garnish with chopped spring onions or coriander leaves

Beef Flank Slow-Cooked with Mooli