Steak, Guinness and cheese pie with a puff pastry lid

Steak, Guinness and cheese pie with a 

puff pastry lid:

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 3 medium red onions , peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic , peeled and chopped
• 2 carrots , peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks celery , trimmed and chopped
• 4 field mushrooms , peeled and sliced
• 1 kg quality brisket of beef or stewing beef , cut into 2cm cubes
• a few sprigs fresh rosemary , leaves picked and chopped
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 440 ml Guinness
• 2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
• 150 g Cheddar cheese , freshly grated
• 170 g ready-made all-butter puff pastry
• 1 large free-range egg , beaten

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Method:

This pie is a real winner! As it uses bought puff pastry, it’s quick to prepare, and you can make the filling the day before if you want. For a bit of a treat you could use 500g of pastry and line the bottom of the pie dish - just make sure you cook it at the bottom of the oven so the pastry has a chance to crisp up.

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. In a large ovenproof pan, heat a lug of olive oil on a low heat. Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes – try not to colour them too much. Turn the heat up, add the garlic, carrots and celery and scatter in the mushrooms. Mix everything together before stirring in the beef, rosemary, a pinch of salt and a level teaspoon of pepper.

Fry fast for 3 or 4 minutes, then pour in the Guinness, stir in the flour and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and place in the preheated oven for about 1½ hours. Remove the pan from the oven and give the stew a stir. Put it back into the oven and continue to cook it for another hour, or until the meat is very tender and the stew is rich, dark and thick. A perfect pie filling needs to be robust, so if it’s still quite liquidy, place the pan on the hob and reduce until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in half the cheese, then season carefully and leave to cool slightly.

Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll the pastry out evenly with a floured rolling pin to the thickness of a pound coin. Tip the stew into your dish and even it out before sprinkling over the remaining cheese. 

Place the pastry over the top of the pie dish and criss-cross it lightly with a sharp knife. Brush the top with beaten egg, then bake the pie directly on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes, until the pastry is cooked, puffed and golden. Delicious served simply with peas.

Steak and salsa verde:

Ingredients

• For the steak
• 1 lb quality flank steak
• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper , to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic , halved

For the Mexican salsa verde

1 small bunch fresh coriander

1 small bunch fresh mint , leaves picked

1 clove garlic , peeled

1-2 fresh jalapeno or serrano chillies , seeded

4 large scallions , trimmed

2 tomatoes , roughly chopped

freshly ground black pepper , to taste

1-2 limes , juice of

1 tablespoon olive oil

⅛ teaspoon salt

Method:

Take your steak out of the refrigerator and let it get up to room temperature while you make your salsa. 

Get yourself a good knife and a big cutting board. Set aside a few of the cilantro leaves, then chop the top of the bunch, stalks and all, with the mint leaves, garlic, chiles, scallions, and tomatoes until it’s all very fine – watch your fingers here! Sprinkle over a pinch of the salt and pepper, then add most of the lime juice and a good lug of extra virgin olive oil. Mix together on the board, taste it, season with the remaining salt, pepper, lime juice, or chile, and put it into a bowl ready to go.

Get a frying pan, grill pan, or outdoor grill screaming hot and season both sides of your steaks with the salt, pepper, and a good lug of olive oil. 

Add the steaks to the pan or grill. Your steaks should take about 6 to 7 minutes per side to cook depending on how you like them. As it cooks, rub the steak with the cut side of the garlic clove for some extra flavor.

When the steaks are perfectly cooked to your liking, move them to a plate to rest for a few minutes.

Cut the flank against the grain and with the knife at an angle to the board into ¼-inch-thick slices, and arrange them on a large serving platter or divide between your plates. 

Finish with a few dollops of salsa, and scatter over your remaining cilantro leaves. Drizzle over any resting juices and let everyone tuck in. 

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Goulash soup:

Ingredients:

• 250 g onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 green pepper
• 2 tomatoes
• a few sprigs of fresh marjoram
• extra virgin olive oil
• 500 g beef shin , cut into small cubes
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1½ litres organic beef stock
• ½ tablespoon caraway seeds
• red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 200 g potatoes
• sour cream , optional

Method:

Peel and slice the onions, peel and crush the garlic, and deseed and dice the pepper. Finely chop the tomatoes. Pick and finely chop the marjoram.

Add a good splash of oil to a large pan and gently sauté the onions, garlic and pepper until softened. 

Add the beef and continue to cook until the meat is browned and the vegetables are cooked. 

Stir in the paprika and cook for 2 more minutes, then add 200ml of the beef stock. Bring to the boil and cook until reduced by half. 

Add the marjoram, caraway seeds, a splash of vinegar, the tomatoes, the tomato purée and season well.

Add enough stock to cover and simmer until the meat and vegetables are tender, about 1½ to 2 hours. 

Peel, dice and add the potatoes, plus any remaining stock and a little water if it’s looking too dry, and simmer until the potatoes are cooked. 

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, if you like.

Poached beef with herb vinaigrette & leeks

Poached beef with herb vinaigrette & leeks:

Ingredients:

• 6 onions
• 6 leeks
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 200 ml white wine
• 3 litres organic vegetable stock
• 1.25 kg beef-eye fillet , roughly 8cm in diameter
• HERB VINAIGRETTE
• 1 shallot
• 6 cornichons
• 1 bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 bunch of fresh chives
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoon savora sauce , (see tip)
• 4 tablespoons rapeseed oil
• 1 teaspoon capers

Method:

Peel and roughly slice the onions, and trim and halve the leeks lengthways.

Heat the olive oil in a flameproof casserole pan over a high heat and cook the onions for 15 minutes, until browned. Deglaze with the white wine, then pour in the vegetable stock. Add the leeks and cook for 30 minutes. 

Tie the beef with kitchen string at 2cm intervals, then attach it to each end of a wooden spoon to create a handle – the string should be just long enough so that the spoon can be balanced on top of the pan while the beef is submerged in the stock. 

Lower the beef into the pan and poach over a low-medium heat for 15 minutes for rare (20 for medium, 25 for well done). 

Take the pan off the heat and transfer the beef to a warm plate. Cover with foil and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain the leeks and keep them warm. 

Peel and finely chop the shallot, and finely chop the cornichons. Pick and finely chop the herbs.

In a bowl, combine the mustard, vinegar, savora sauce and rapeseed oil, then add the shallot, cornichons, capers, and herbs, then season to taste.

Slice the beef very thinly, drizzle with the vinaigrette and serve with the leeks on the side.

Tips:

Savora, or sauce saveur Amora, is a French mustard sauce, slightly sweetened with honey. Find it at French supermarkets or online at fairfayre.com. Alternatively, add 1 teaspoon of honey to the Dijon mustard.

Nigerian suya:

Ingredients:

• 1 kg fillet of beef , trimmed
• 500 g ripe tomatoes , (mixed colours if possible)
• ½ red cabbage
• ½ white cabbage
• 1 red onion
• 1 cucumber
• 2 lemons
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• For the marinade:
• 10 uda pods , (see tip)
• 400 g salted roasted peanuts
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion granules
• 1 teaspoon garlic granules
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 organic fish or chicken stock cube
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 1 fresh green chilli
• 1 fresh Scotch bonnet
• 1 green pepper
• 1 spring onion
• You will need:
• 32 wooden skewers

Method:

Eaten straight off the grill, these sizzling beef skewers are a popular and delicious Nigerian street food snack.

Around 1 hour before you start, soak 32 wooden skewers in plenty of cold water.

Very finely slice the beef, flatten slightly with the flat side of your knife, then place on a plate. Cover and place in the fridge until needed.

To make the marinade, bash the uda pods in a pestle and mortar. Remove and discard the seeds, then place the pods into a liquidiser with the peanuts and spices. Crumble in the stock cube, then blitz for 5 to 10 minutes to a rough powder, stopping and stirring the mixture from time to time. Transfer the ground spices to a large bowl. 

Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Trim and deseed the chillies and pepper, then roughly chop. Trim and roughly chop the spring onion. Add it all to the liquidiser and blitz until smooth. Transfer the mixture to the ground spices and stir well. Turn the beef in the marinade until well coated, then thread 4 to 5 slices onto each soaked skewer. Place on a tray, cover and pop in the fridge to marinate for around 3 hours.

To make the salad, finely slice the tomatoes, then trim and finely shred the cabbage. Peel and finely slice the onion, then finely slice the cucumber. Place into a large bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Preheat a large griddle pan over a medium-high heat. Drizzle the skewers with a little olive oil, then place on the griddle for 1 to 2 minutes, or until beautifully gnarly and golden, turning regularly (you’ll need to do this in batches). Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil, then serve with the salad and extra lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Jamie's Tip: Uda pods add a lovely sharp, peppery taste to dishes and are used a lot in West African cooking. If you can’t get hold of them, Szechuan peppercorns are similar in flavour.

Beef Wellington:

Ingredients:

• 1 kg centre fillet of beef , trimmed (the timings below work perfectly for a fillet of roughly 10cm in diameter)
• olive oil
• 2 large knobs of unsalted butter
• 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 600 g mixed mushrooms
• 100 g chicken livers , (cleaned)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon truffle oil , (optional)
• 50 g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 x 500 g block puff pastry
• 1 large free-range egg
• For the gravy:
• 2 onions
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 heaped teaspoon blackcurrant jam
• 100 ml Maderia wine
• 1 heaped teaspoon English mustard
• 2 heaped teaspoons plain flour , plus extra for dusting
• 600 ml beef stock , (hot)

Method:

Beef Wellington celebrates the luxurious and very tender fillet of beef and is one of those ultimate blowout dishes that hits the right spot several times in one meal. When you’ve made this once, you’ll get a sense of how you can perfect it in your oven and make it work for parties and special occasions; once prepared it’s super-easy to cook and serve.

Preheat a large frying pan on a high heat. Rub the beef all over with sea salt and black pepper. Pour a good lug of oil into the pan, then add the beef, 1 knob of butter and 1 sprig of rosemary. Sear the beef for 4 minutes in total, turning regularly with tongs, then remove to a plate. Wipe out the pan and return to a medium heat. Peel the onion and garlic, then very finely chop with the mushrooms and put into the pan with the remaining knob of butter and another lug of oil. Strip in the rest of the rosemary leaves and cook for 15 minutes, or until soft and starting to caramelise, stirring regularly. Toss the livers and Worcestershire sauce into the pan and cook for another few minutes, then tip the contents onto a large board and drizzle with the truffle oil (if using). Finely chop it all by hand with a big knife, to a rustic, spreadable consistency. Taste and season to perfection, then stir in the breadcrumbs (you can use pancakes to line the pastry and absorb the juices, but I prefer using breadcrumbs like this).

Preheat the oven to 210°C/425°F/gas 7. On a flour-dusted surface, roll out the pastry to 30cm x 40cm. With one of the longer edges in front of you, spread the mushroom pâté over the pastry, leaving a 5cm gap at either end and at the edge furthest away from you – eggwash these edges. Sit the beef on the pâté then, starting with the edge nearest to you, snugly wrap the pastry around the beef, pinching the ends to seal. Transfer the Wellington to a large baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, with the pastry seal at the base, and brush all over with eggwash (you can prep to this stage, then refrigerate until needed – just get it out 1½ hours before cooking so it’s not fridge-cold). When you’re ready to cook, heat the tray on the hob for a couple of minutes to start crisping up the base, then transfer to the oven and cook for 40 minutes for blushing, juicy beef – the two end portions will be more cooked, but usually some people prefer that.

Meanwhile, for the gravy, peel and roughly chop the onions and put into a large pan on a medium heat with a lug of oil and the thyme leaves. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, then stir in the jam and simmer until shiny and quite dark. Add the Madeira, flame with a match, cook away, then stir in the mustard and flour, gradually followed by the stock. Simmer to the consistency you like, then blend with a stick blender and pass through a sieve, or leave chunky. Once cooked, rest the Wellington for 5 minutes, then serve in 2cm-thick slices with the gravy and steame.