Sunday, May 4, 2008

Slow braised beef neck

Slow braised beef neck

It's Friday. We have the day off, so we take the kids to Brunswick Heads, fly fishing unsuccessfully on the low tide and tannic water. We find a wonderful little shop called "second hand rose" that has bits of old and new, wonderful soaps, enamel colanders, antique cutlery and this fab old Japanese made crock pot in red and white, just like the kitchen. 'Twas a little expense but so cute! Dinner for two size! How romantic. . .

Any ways, after a really shitty day at the coalface/cafe, I return home to find duck curry and Thai fishcakes from the Bruns takeaway "Rice", meaning I didn't need to cook. Still, theres a 400gm piece of beef neck that needs to be eaten and I'm dying to try out this pot.

Preheat a stainless steel fan forced oven (or similar) to 160 deg/c

400gm beef neck ("you can call me chuck")
1/2 cup plain flour
1x small onion, diced finely
2 x mushrooms, chopped
1 x tomato, chopped finely
1 1/2 x glasses red wine
1 x clove garlic, chopped roughly
1/2 ts smoky Spanish paprika
sage, thyme and bay leaves
olive oil to seal

Heat a heavy based pan and swirl around some olive oil. Coat the diced beef neck in some flour, both sides, season and seal in the pan. Remove from the pan and add onions. Saute until soft, then add the mushrooms, smoky Spanish paprika, and tomatoes. Simmer off until the tomatoes lose structural integrity and the mushrooms have reduced by half. Deglase the pan with half a glass of red wine and drink the rest yourself as you wait for the sauce to thicken a little. Lay the beef in the crockpot, add the fresh 'erbs on top then pour over your now rich and wonderful sauce over the top. Add a cup of water. Place in bottom shelf of oven and cook for 2 hours.

Enjoy with a glass of rich red, some crusty bread and the company of one other, perhaps fireside.

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