Make this classic red wine beef casserole recipe

So winters almost here, cold, wet and dark early. But this gloom can by replaced by the warmth and joy of a good honest casserole gently simmering in your oven. 
Such was the day I made this one, cold southerlies and rain pouring down perfect conditions specially as I had time to hang around the kitchen for the afternoon.
Any red meat can be used for this recipe I actually prefer venison instead of the beef with the adition of a few juniper berries.
It's hard to beat a creamy mashed potato with this dish and I like some roasted brussel sprouts on the side.

Beef Casserole:
1.5 Kg   Blade or Chuck steak
              Flour
1            Carrot
2            Onions
1-2         Celery sticks
1            Bulb of garlic
5            Fresh bay leaves
6            Sprigs of thyme
2 Tlb      Tomato paste
.5           Bottle of red wine
500ml    Beef stock
1            tsp of honey or sugar
              Salt and pepper
              Italian parsley


Method:
Cut the meat into 4cm cubes and dust well with season flour.
In a hot pan with a little grape seed oil brown the meat off in 2-3 batches.
Cut the vegetables into quarters  and fry for a couple minutes with the tomato paste add them and the  meat to a casserole dish or a deep oven tray.
De glaze the meat and veg pan with the red wine by heating the liquid up to a boil then pour it into the casserole dish.
Lastly add the herbs, cover the dish and cook at 160c for 4hrs or until the meat is tender.
I remove the veg and herbs at this stage and reduce the sauce if it's a little thin. Season with salt and pepper, a little honey or sugar may be helpful to balance the sauce. sometimes tomato paste can be a little tart tasting.
Add the meat back to the sauce and serve over whipped potato and brussel sprouts sprinkled with chopped parsley.


Brussel sprouts:
Brussel sprouts
Sea salt
Cracked pepper
Butter
Olive oil
Bay leaves

Method:
Boil or steam the sprouts for 5min, strain, dry.
Place them in an oven tray with a couple knobs of butter a dash of olive oil, some sea salt and bay leaves.
Roast or grill in a hot oven until the outer leaves start to colour and crisp up around 5-10 min.

Wet Polenta with pork belly

I met up with a good chef friend of mine Bryn Lewis yesterday, we went on a little food odyssey around Gisborne collecting tasty products and fresh produce.Bryn is also a wine maker at Hi hi winery which is in Ormond, Gisborne. So I had the chance to sample their wide verity of old and new world wines straight from the barrel. The boys have done a fantastic job so keep your eyes out for the wine.

The following dish is the end result of our days gathering and a fairly large amount of wine. We wanted an Italian style dinner that we could all sit around and drink wine with. Perfect.

A fun way to serve and eat food this one...




































Wet Polenta with Pork Belly:
Pork belly
Chorizo sausage
Cacciatori hot sausage
Chicken stock
Wine
Bay leaves
Onion garlic
Olives
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Eggplant
Roasted capsicum
Kamokamo
Portobello mushrooms
Parmesan

Method:
Gently simmer the pork belly in chicken stock, water, wine, onions and garlic for 2hrs until tender. Cool and cut into cubes.

Cut the veg into chunks and roast until soft and coloured.

Cut the sausages into chunks and grill with the pork belly, season.

Make the polenta by combining the chicken stock with some of the pork’s cooking liquor; we added raw corn kernels at this stage then rained in the polenta while stirring continuously. When cooked add a large knob of butter and plenty of grated Parmesan.

Spread the polenta out on a clean table and sprinkle over the pork cubes, sausage, roasted veg, herbs, olive oil and extra Parmesan.

Grab some plates and using a fish slice serve straight from the table. As the polenta cools it will start to set and is equally nice like that.

The wine best matched proved to be the Hi hi Merlot.

BBQ lamb leg

I made this lamb last night. It’s great for a summer night and it cooks fast, well faster than most lamb legs anyway.

I served it with a nice tatziki style sauce with cucumber, yoghurt, lemon and mint. Fresh corn, crusty bread and a big salad.

Method:

Lay the leg out trim excess fat and sinew. Butterfly out any extra thick pieces of meat then tenderise the whole thing with a meat mullet or your fist. Make sure the skin is still intact and the meat is around the same thickness.

Slice ginger, garlic, herbs, chilli, and lemon and add to the lamb with the olive oil.

Marinate for at least 2 hrs or up to a day.

Season with salt and pepper and bbq on a hot flat plate, turning only once. Reduce the heat to med once the lamb is cooking and turn after 8 mins.

When the lamb has cooked for 6 min on the second side turn the heat off and put the lid down. Let it finish for 5min like that. Then rest for another 10min in a warm place, saving any juices.

Slice the lamb against the grain. Add more salt, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley and the resting juices.

Will feed 4-6 people.

Recipe:

1 Lamb leg – boned out but left in one flat piece

Ginger

Garlic

Chilli

Rosemary

Parsley

Coriander

Lemon

Olive oil

Sea salt

Cracked black pepper