Ox Cheek Ragù

31st August 201831st August 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 14

This is such a simple dish with few ingredients that really makes an impact. It is excellent for batch cooking and the good news is that a little goes a long way so this feeds a lot of people. My recipe here is for the Instant Pot but it can be slow cooked on the hob or in the oven (see my notes at the end).

I am a huge fan of ox cheek. It is relatively cheap but has the most wonderful flavour and texture. It has to be cooked for a long time but using the pressure cooker means it is done in a fraction of the time.

You want a good Italian red wine for this dish and I absolutely adore Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. Lidl do one that’s exceptional value for the quality at £3.99. This recipe uses half a bottle which means there’s enough for a glass or two for the cook!

This has become a favourite dish in our household and is often on the menu, most recently as part of an Italian-themed dinner party.

Serve with a pasta of your choice and some freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
3-4 celery stalks, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped
2 ox cheeks, cut in to large pieces (about 2 inches)
500g passata
375ml Montepulciano D’Abruzzo (Italian red wine)
Salt and pepper

Step 1: Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode. When hot, add the oil, celery and onion, and stir frequently for five minutes.

Step 2: Add the garlic and ox cheek pieces. Stir frequently for a couple of minutes until the cheeks are browned slightly.

Step 3: Add the rosemary, passata, wine and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Stir.

Step 4: Switch sauté mode off and replace the lid. Ensure the vent is set to sealing.

Step 5: Select manual, high pressure and set for 35 minutes. Allow it to depress naturally.

Step 6: Remove the lid and take out the cheek pieces and shred with a fork.

Step 7: Return the shredded meat to the pot, leave the lid off and set back on sauté and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, and season to taste.

This is wonderfully rich and a little goes a long way. An Instant Pot ladleful per person (or three or four tablespoons of the sauce) stirred into freshly cooked pasta should do it. I portion this up and freeze for a quick and very satisfying meal.

If you are not using the Instant Pot, it is possible to achieve the same results in the oven or on the hob. Steps 1-3 should be done in a casserole dish on the hob, replace steps 4 and 5 with cooking on a low heat (lid on) either on the hob or oven (150c) for three to four hours. Step 6 remains as is whilst step 7 should be done on the hob, with the lid off.

Thai Red Ox Cheek Curry

15th August 201818th August 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 6-8

This week it was our wedding anniversary and I asked The Food Husband what he would like to eat to celebrate at home (after treating ourselves to a fabulous meal at Menu Gordon Jones in Bath at the weekend). We decided that a Thai curry using ox cheek was the winner. It’s definitely a favourite and is an excellent way of using the cut of meat.

If you’ve never tried cheek you must. It requires a lot of cooking but when it is treated in this way you are left with the most succulent, melt in the mouth, flavoursome meat. And the good news is it’s cheap. It’s only about seven or eight pounds a kilo and this will feed eight people, so very economical for something so delicious.

I usually make this with a shop-bought paste in which case I would use maybe half the quantity cited in the ingredients as it is a lot spicier than my homemade version. But this time I’ve made my own (gentler) paste which can be found here. You are looking for 500ml of liquid – I have used a tin of coconut milk and then topped it up with water as I was making a more calorie friendly version. For a richer, more traditional curry, use all coconut milk. You can add whichever vegetables you would like to the curry. I chose mushrooms, peppers and bamboo shoots. Aubergine, courgette and green beans would also work well.

This can be cooked low and slow in the oven or, as I’ve done it this time, in the Instant Pot in a fraction of the time. If cooking in the oven do steps one and two on the hob on a medium high heat and then transfer to the oven with the lid on for step three and cook at 150c for four hours (do check every so often if it needs more liquid though). Return to the hob for stage four onwards.

Once cooked, if serving fewer people, portion up and freeze. Once defrosted it’ll only take a few minutes to heat back through on the hob.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp coconut oil
8 shallots, peeled and quartered
3 heaped tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 ox cheeks (total between 800g-1kg in weight), cut in to 2 inch square dice
500ml coconut milk (or mix of water and coconut milk)
6 lime leaves
2 peppers, cut into large dice
1 tin of bamboo shoots, drained
300g Mushrooms, halved (I used Chinese straw mushrooms)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
Salt

Stage 1: Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode and add the coconut oil and shallots. Stir frequently for a few minutes until the start to brown, then add the ox cheek and seal on all sides.

Step 2: Once the meat is browned, add the curry paste and stir so that it starts to cook out and has a good covering over the meat. Then add your liquid and the lime leaves and stir.

Step 3: Turn sauté mode off and replace the lid, ensuring the valve is set to sealing. Manually set it to cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. Allow it to depress naturally.

Step 4: Remove the lid and remove the meat, use two forks to shred the flesh, and then return to the pot.

Step 5: Switch back on to sauté mode and add your vegetables, sugar, fish sauce and salt (to taste). Cook for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.

Try serving this with steamed rice, a green vegetable (we had pak choi) and a simple cucumber salad; simply slice cucumber, sprinkle over a pinch of salt and some lime juice and add a little mint (if you like). We also had a few cheeky prawn crackers.

Instant Pot Lamb and Butterbean Tapas

26th June 201829th June 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 3- 4 as a tapas

This is a real gem. I made this in the Instant Pot and the results were outstanding. Literally five minutes of work, and about half an hour letting the Instant Pot do its thing and I had the most melt-in-the-mouth, rich lamb stew, beautifully sweet from the peppers and complimented so well with the plump butterbeans.

You could, of course, do this in the oven, in which case you would need to add a good couple of hours on to the cooking time (at step 3, put in an oven-proof, lidded dish, and transfer to the oven at 150c for 2-3 hours).

We’ll definitely be revisiting this invention!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, halved and sliced
2 cloves garlic
2 roasted peppers from a jar, cut into strips
300g lamb fillet, cut into 2-inch chunks
1 heaped tsp paprika
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 tin butter beans
1 tbsp chopped parsley

Step 1: Set the instant pot to sauté mode and add the oil, onion, garlic and peppers and stir for two to three minutes.

Step 2: Add the lamb and paprika and stir for a further minute before adding the tomato purée and butterbeans (including their water).

Step 3: Put the lid on and ensure it is switched to sealing. Place manually on high pressure for 15 minutes and allow to depress naturally.

Step 4: Remove the lid, season to taste and switch back onto sauté mode for five or ten minutes,stirring frequently, to allow the rich sauce to reduce.

Step 5: Add the chopped parsley and stir through before serving.

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

10th April 201810th April 2018
by thefoodwife

One of my favourite poems as a child was about mash. It perfectly summed up my love for the creamy, soft mountains of whipped potatoes that would accompany a multitude of meals. We would take it in turns to be the one who would mash and then beat butter and milk into the potatoes, and the prize, or chef’s privilege if you will, was to be able to lick the whisk!

Nowadays, I have a fool-proof, quick and ever so easy way of making mashed potatoes. It’s done in the Instant Pot, takes a couple of minutes to prepare and then just 15 minutes. Perfect mash with zero effort. But before I give you the instructions I think this poem is worth sharing – it’s short, don’t worry!

Mashed Potato/Love Poem
by Sidney Hoddes
If I ever had to choose between you
and a third helping of mashed potato,
(whipped lightly with a fork
not whisked,
and a little pool of butter
melting in the middle…)
I think
I’d choose
the mashed potato.
But I’d choose you next.

Ingredients:
Potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
25g butter
2 cloves garlic (peeled) (optional)
2 sprigs rosemary (optional)
1 cup water (160ml)
Salt and pepper to taste
Milk/cream/creme fraiche/butter

Step 1: Place your prepared potatoes into the Instant Pot (however much you need). Add the butter and water along with the garlic and rosemary (if using).

Step 2: Put the lid on and set the valve to sealing. Set the Instant Pot to cook manually for 15 minutes on high pressure.

Step 3: Either allow the pressure to depress naturally or do quick release (safely using a tea towel/long handled wooden spoon).

Step 4: Remove the rosemary and mash the potatoes, adding any extra fat (e.g. milk/cream/creme fraiche/butter) to taste along with salt and pepper.

Asian Pork Belly and the Instant Pot

7th April 20187th April 2018
by thefoodwife

The Instant Pot; the current culinary craze which I succumbed to in the summer. Six months later and I have only recently braved using it! I’m so pleased I have. I’ve been experimenting and have come up with two mouth-watering Asian pork belly dishes – the sort that would take at least a good hour and a half with regular interference from the cook, but I’m able to prep in five minutes, let the Instant Pot do its work for 20 minutes or so, and we’re having meltingly soft (I could cut it with a spoon!) juicy pork belly.

So, here are my two dishes; one Chinese, the other Korean. Both require pork belly cut into one-inch cubes (or thereabouts). As much as you would like although bear in mind that this fatty meat is rich. I went for about 300g for two people. Both recipes require high pressure for 20-25 minutes. I was eager to eat so did quick release however you could let it depress naturally.

The Korean recipe requires 1 tbsp gochujang paste added to the pot, then using the Instant Pot cup measure (160ml) fill it to 1/4 with half dark soy sauce and half rice wine vinegar. Add 4 tsp caster sugar and a tsp of sesame oil. Fill the rest of the cup with water and add to the pot. Add another half cup of water. Add the cubed pork belly and set the pressure to high and cook for 20-25 minutes. Once it is cooked and the pressure released, remove the lid and switch to sauté mode. Add 2 tsp of slackened cornflour and stir until pleasingly thickened.

Serve with rice and steamed greens.

The Chinese version is based on the favourite dish of Chairman Mao, red braised pork belly. For this you will need to add 3 tbsp dark soy sauce to the Instant Pot cup and top up with water. Add this to the Instant Pot along with an inch of diced root ginger, 3 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick or piece of cassia bark, 2 tsp of chilli flakes and 2 tbsp of caster sugar. Add the cubed pork belly and set the pressure to high and cook for 20-25 minutes. Once it is cooked and the pressure released, remove the lid and switch to sauté mode. Add 2 tsp of slackened cornflour and stir until thickened.

Serve with rice and steamed greens.