Braised Oxtail in Ginger and Mirin

1.5kg oxtail
1/2 cup fresh ginger - cut into matchstick lengths
1/2 gluten-free Tamari (or light soy sauce)
1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin
1 cup gluten-free beef stock (I use the Massel brand)

Fry the oxtail in a little oil to brown.
Transfer the meat to a slow cooker.
Fry the ginger until fragrant.
Add the ginger to the slow cooker along with the soy, sake, mirin and stock.
Cook until the oxtail is meltingly tender - how long this takes will depend on if you use the High or Low setting on your slow cooker. Check it every now and then - you want there to be plenty of sauce, so you may need to add more stock.
 You can cook this dish very, very gently in a covered casserole - you will need to use about 3 cups of stock. Don't try to cook the oxtail quickly - they just get tough and that's not nice.

Braised beef - Greek Style

Braised Beef - Greek Style

350g pickling onions or large shallots - peeled
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 kg beef  - cheeks or brisket - cut into 5cm pieces
20ml red wine vinegar
150ml red wine
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp finely grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp finely ground cloves
1/2 tsp finely ground cumin
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic - peeled and sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
400g tinned tomatoes in their own juice - chopped
800ml water - to cover
1 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 130c
Put onions into a roasting tray with 1 tbsp oil and roast for 20 - 25 minutes until golden, but not cooked through.
Put a heavy-based casserole on a medium heat, add 1 tbsp oil and when hot, add beef - in batches and sear to brown all sides.
Add red wine vinegar and red wine to casserole and bring to the boil to burn the alcohol off.
Add cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, cumin, bay leaf, garlic, tomato paste and tomatoes to casserole and stir to combine.
Add water, to just cover - sugar and salt and pepper.
Bring back to the boil, cover the mixture with baking paper, then put the lid on the casserole.
Put casserole into the pre-heated oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove from the oven, stir and add the part-cooke onions.
Return the casserole to the oven and cook a further 1 to 1 1/2 hours or till the meat is very tender.
Season to taste.
Serves 4

Grilled Beef Patties Vietnamese Style

3 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
500g lean minced beef
1 garlic clove - finely chopped
1/2 a small onion - finely chopped (or 4 spring onions)
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp coconut cream
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp caster sugar
pinch of salt

Stir sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for a minute, then add the cumin and stir until fragrant.
Put all the other ingredients into a bowl, add the sesame seeds and squoosh well together.
Divide the mix into about 16 portions and form into patties.
Put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Cook them for about 3 minutes each side.
Serve with dipping sauce, or just do what we did and pour some sauce over.

Nuoc Cham dipping sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp caster sugar
3 tbsp water
a garlic clove - finely chopped
1 small red chilli - finely chopped (take the seeds out first)
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp fish sauce
Put the vinegar, sugar and water into a small pot. Bring to the boil, turn it down to a simmer and stir till the sugar dissolves. Let it cool, then add the other ingredients.
Be careful, this stuff is addictive.

Have left-overs for breakfast :-)

Slow-cooker Smokey Beef

Rick's cousin has a bit of land on the outskirts of the city. They grow some beefs and some sheeps. We bought a quarter of a beef beastie from him. Nigel and Andrea delivered it on the Saturday night.
That critter was HUGE.
We now have no space in our freezer, the beer-fridge freezer part is full - and we've taken some to store in Mum and Dad's freezer...
We will be eating a lot of beef in the next few months. :-)
I'm cooking a topside roast in the slow-cooker for dinner tonight and it's smelling really good.
I made a rub based on the one here http://everydaypaleo.com/2011/05/13/smokey-roast/#more-2357. I don't have ground chipotle - so I just used chilli seasoning (which will probably make it not quite as spicy - a good thing because I made a pork curry on the weekend that blew the top of Rick's head off... I need to be on my best behaviour!), and I also didn't have any garlic powder... so I left it out :-)
The roast seems to have cooked down quite a bit, but I think there will be some left over for me for breakfast and for Rick for lunch.
I love that it is ok to eat left-over roast meat for breakfast!!!

there was I, on the couch with my bag of crisps....waiting for the Oscar's...

and they didn't happen! What-the?

Marinated Skirt Steak

1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
1 tbsp molasses
150ml gluten-free soy sauce (I used gf tamari)
60ml oil
3 cloves garlic - chopped.

Put all the marinade ingredients into a plastic bag and sqwoodge (how do you spell that?) it all around to mix.
This mix makes enough marinade for approx 1kg of skirt steak, but a bit more or a bit less - doesn't matter too much.
Trim all the white sinew stuff from the steak - if you leave it on it will be tough - and I can cook beef that way without any help at all.
Put the meat into the bag with the marinade mix. Sqwoodge some more and tie the bag firmly (or it'll go everywhere) and leave to marinate for 3-4 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge. You can also do it to this stage and then sling it in the freezer. It'll marinate as it thaws when you are ready to cook it.

Heat the grill to high. Grill the meat 5-7 minutes, then turn it and grill 3-4 minutes on the other side.
Serve it sliced thinly on an angle, cutting across the grain of the meat.

This is a bit blurry - it is the steam rising...

It turns out the Oscar's were being shown on a Movie channel - for crying out loud, how was a person supposed to know that????

this is just delicious

This is a go-to recipe for whenever you need to impress someone (except a vegetarian, obviously)

SOY-GLAZED FILLET OF BEEF

75ml gluten free soy sauce (I use tamari)
45ml grapeseed oil
45ml dry sherry
2 garlic cloves - finely chopped
1 - 1.5kg fillet of  beef, stripped of all fat and silver skin

Season the beef with black pepper.
Combine all marinade ingredients, add the meat and leave to marinate for at least 4 hours, turning it regularly. If you have to refrigerate it, bring it back to room temperature before you cook it.
Heat oven to 220c
Place fillet on a rack in a roasting dish.
Spoon over some of the marinade.
Cook, uncovered and baste from time to time.
Cook 18 - 22 minutes per kilo for rare, and 30 minutes per kilo for medium/rare.
Serves 6