Crispy chilli beef tacos

 

Crispy chilli beef tacos

• 500g mincemeat
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 400g tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp chipotle chilli flakes
• 2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• Good few gauges of Worcestershire sauce
• Flour tortillas
• Grated cheddar cheese
• Olive oil

Method

Add a splash of olive oil to a large pan, heat and then sauté the onions and garlic, add the mincemeat (using a spatula to break up the meat otherwise it will clump together) and brown the meat, drain off any excess fat, add the herbs, spices, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce and a good pinch of salt and pepper, stir through then add the chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer for at least 30 minutes, add the kidney beans and simmer for a further 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees, cover a baking tray with some tin foil, brush some olive oil over one side of each tortilla (quantity depends on how many you are cooking for), place a tortilla onto the tray (oil side down)and spoon some of your chilli onto one half, top with some grated cheese and fold over then repeat.  Place the tray into the oven and cook until the cheese has melted and the tacos are crunchy.

This is quite a spicy chilli so adjust to suit your taste buds.  Packed full of heat and flavour, this is a real winner.  I served this with some homemade guacamole and pineapple salsa.  I find it better to make your own tacos as the shop bought ones are so small you can’t really get much filling in them!  I hope you enjoy this as much as we did, sadly a little bit too spicy for the boys!

Pineapple Salsa

Crispy chilli beef tacos

Guacamole

Thai Basil Beef - Pad Gra Prow

Thai Basil Beef - Pad Gra Prow

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 380g bavette steak, sliced thinly against the grain and mixed with 1 teaspoon oil and 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
• ½ of a red bell pepper (sliced thinly)
• 1 small onion (thinly sliced)
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup thai basil leaves 
• Coriander (to garnish)
• 1 green chilli, thinly sliced 
• Thumbnail sized piece of fresh ginger cut into matchstick strips

Heat your wok over high heat, add the oil and then brown the steak, remove and set aside.

Add the garlic, red pepper, ginger and chilli to the wok and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add the onions and stir-fry until browned.  Return the beef back to the wok and add the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sugar. Stir-fry for another few seconds, and then fold in the Thai basil until it’s just wilted. Serve with jasmine rice, and garnish with coriander.

This is my version of Pad Gra Prow, yet again another quick and easy recipe, packed with flavour and it also packs a punch with the chilli, you can omit the chilli or reduce the amount used to suit your tastebuds.  Using this cut of steak is perfect as it is very tender, don’t over cook it though as that’s when it turns chewy.  A massive hit in our household and I can’t wait to make it again.

Burmese Beef Curry

Burmese Beef Curry

• 800g cubed stewing steak
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 onion finely diced
• 2 tbsp chopped ginger
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp Garamond masala
• 2 lemon grass stalks (outer tough leaves removed) thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp galangal paste
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 3 chillies finely chopped
• 500ml beef stock
• Tablespoon of vegetable oil

Method:

Heat the oil in a large casserole dish and brown the beef.  Place the remaining ingredients (excluding the tinned tomatoes) into a food processor and blitz until you have a fine paste. Add the paste to the beef and mix thoroughly to ensure the meat gets a good coating, add the beef stock and the chopped tomatoes, stir through and bring to a simmer.  Once done cover and place the dish into the oven at 170 degrees and cook for around 3 hours, stirring on the hour.  You should have plenty of sauce but if you notice it starting to dry out add a splash or two of water.

Following a recent holiday to Myanmar I had this dish 3 times in two days, it was delicious.  We stayed at the Inle Princess for the last portion of our holiday and they kindly provided me with their recipe for this dish which I have incorporated with another recipe that I found.  The traditional dish does not have chillies and is very mild but as you all know I do like a kick of heat hence the addition of chillies but obviously you can leave them out.

We had this with boiled rice and the usual popadoms and dips and it was a resounding hit and tasted as good as those we tried on holiday.  This recipe makes enough for 4 portions, we've had two portions already so have a guess what we are having for dinner tonight!

Beef Rendang – Hairy Bikers Style

Beef Rendang – Hairy Bikers Style

• 2 lemongrass stalks
• 2 red onions, quartered
• 4 garlic cloves
• Thumb sized piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp galangal paste
• 2 plump red chillies roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 5 curry leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tin coconut milk
• 200ml water
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 kilo beef steak cut into bite sized chunks (stewing or braising)
• Big pinch of sea salt

Method:

Peel off the dry outer layers of each lemongrass stalk and slice the inner white part into 1cm pieces.  Place them into a food processor, add the onions, garlic, ginger, galangal and chillies and blend to make as fine a paste as possible.  You will need to push the mixture down a good few times to ensure everything gets a good blitz, word of caution, don’t breath in deeply when doing this as the fragrance will knock you for six!

Heat the vegetable oil in a large flameproof casserole dish and fry the onion paste gently for around 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the cumin, coriander and turmeric, mix well and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add the beef to the casserole dish and toss it with the onion paste and spices.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the meat is lightly coloured all over.  Pour in the coconut milk, add the water, curry leaves, cinnamon stick, sugar, tamarind paste, soy sauce and salt.  Place a lid on the casserole dish and cook in a preheated over at 160 degrees for around 3 hours or until the meat is very tender, you will need to give a good stir on the hour and also just to check it isn’t drying out.  

By the end of the cooking process you should be left with a thick, rich sauce.

It is best to make the curry the day before you eat it as the flavours will enhance the dish even more.  If you are a spice fiend then add as much fresh chilli as you can take, I did find the two chillies (including the seeds) gave this quite a good kick of heat. 

  I served this with basmati rice, cucumber and mint raita, and a tomato, onion and coriander chutney with some poppadoms.

Whilst it may seem like a lot of ingredients most of the dry ingredients people will have in their store cupboard and any additional ingredients required shouldn’t work out too costly and will keep in the fridge for a while once opened.

We both loved this dish, perfect for the weekend and with enough leftover for another dish I will be making later in the week,, watch this space for an Italian dish with an Indian twist!

Recipe adapted from The Hairy Bikers – Great Curries

Cheats Beef Massaman Curry

Cheats Beef Massaman Curry

• 1 jar of store bought massaman curry paste
• 500g cubed stewing/braising steak
• 1 400g tin of coconut milk
• 1 large potato peeled and cut into medium sized cubes
• 60g unsalted peanuts
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• Small sprinkle of chopped coriander
• White rice
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

In a casserole dish heat the vegetable oil, add the diced onion and cook for 5 minutes until softened then add the beef and brown all over.  Add the jar of curry paste, coconut milk and peanuts, stir together and  then put into a preheated oven (160 degrees) and cook for 3 hours until the meat is tender.  Check on the curry after each hour and stir, you don’t want the sauce to dry up completely, if needed add some water but you probably won't need to do that until nearing the end of cooking. 

After the curry has been cooking for 2 hours, bring a pan of water to the boil, add some salt and boil the potatoes for around 7 minutes, it needs to be on the verge of having cooked but not too soft that they fall apart, drain and set aside.  After 2.5 hours add the potatoes to the curry, stir through and cook for the remaining 30 minutes.  Serve with white rice (cooked according to packet instructions) and a garnish of chopped coriander.

Not everything has to be cooked from scratch to be delicious, and this is a prime example. If you find a good sauce packed with flavour then why not use it?  That said, there is something satisfying about making a curry from scratch!  We both really enjoyed this, the peanuts gave a nice bit of flavour and texture to the dish, very hearty and definitely hit the spot.  Have to say on the jar it suggested 20g of peanuts but that isn’t a lot hence I used 60g!

Do you have a tried and tested sauce that you use, then let me know?

Nice n Spicy Beef Curry

Nice n Spicy Beef Curry

• 1kg braising steak, cut into cubes
• Sea salt and ground black pepper
• 3 tbsp Garamond masala
• 2 tbsp natural full fat yoghurt
• Couple of glugs of olive oil
• 2 large onions finely chopped
• 2 fat cloves of garlic, minced
• A knob of fresh ginger, grated to make a tbsp
• 2 good squirts of tomato purée
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 X 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 400ml beef stock
• Small handful of coriander, leaves separated, stalks finely chopped
• 5 cardamom pods - bashed lightly so they just split
• A small handful of dried curry leaves
• 4 fresh green finger chillies - cut in half

To make the spice mix

• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp madras curry powder

Method:

Up the beef cubes into a bowl and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with the farm masala, add the yoghurt and a good glug of olive oil.  Season with a little more salt and a good amount of black pepper.  Give it a good mix so the beef is coated, cover with cling film and leave to marinate for at least an hour.

In a dry frying pan over a high heat, toast the cumin, coriander, fennel and fenugreek seeds, keeping the, moving so they don't burn.  Just a couple of minutes will do - until they start to smell nice.  Now put them into a spice grinder or use a pestle and mortar and grind to a fine powder.  Stir in the turmeric and curry powder, mix well and set aside.

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a large cast-iron casserole dish.  Add the onions, garlic, ginger and a little seasoning.  Give it a good stir and then cover and cook for about 10 minutes until the onions are soft, giving it a stir a couple of times.  Add the sugar, spice mix and tomato purée, stir for a minute before adding the tomatoes,,stock, chopped coriander stalks, cardamom pods, curry leaves and chillies.  Throw in the beef, give it a good stir, then cover the pan with a lid.  Place the dish into a pre-heated oven, (160 degrees) and cook for 4 hours, stirring every hour.

This recipe was recommended to me by my friend Joanne and boy am I glad she did!  This curry is packed full of flavour and has just the right amount of kick (obviously add more chillies if you like it really spicy).  I served this with some coriander rice and the usual dips and poppadoms, perfect for a Saturday night with friends, the recipe serves 4 with good sized portions.  

Recipe by Gordon Ramsay

Beef Goulash

Beef goulash

• 1kg good braising steak, preferably chuck steak
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 3 medium onions, cut into 12 wedges
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp hot smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 beef stock cube (Oxo works well here)
• 600ml cold water
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 orange pepper
• Flaked sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 170°C/Fan 150°C/Gas 3½. Trim any hard fat off the beef and cut the meat into rough 4cm chunks. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish. Add the steak and fry over a high heat until nicely browned all over, turning regularly. Tip the onions into the pan and cook with the beef for 5 minutes until softened. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further minute, stirring regularly.
Sprinkle both paprikas over the meat and crumble the beef stock cube on top. Add the water, tomatoes, tomato purée and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, stir well and bring to a simmer. 

Cover with a tightly fitting lid and transfer the dish to the oven. Cook for 1½ hours. 

While the beef is cooking, remove the core and seeds from each pepper and chuck them away. Cut each pepper into chunks of about 3cm. When the beef has cooked for 1½ hours, carefully remove the dish from the oven. Stir in the peppers, put the lid back on and put the goulash back in the oven for a further hour or until the beef is meltingly tender.

I served this with rice and a few dollops of sour cream but it is also great with mashed potato.  This is one of those recipes it’s good to double up on freeze what you don’t eat.

 Recipe courtesy of the Hairy Bikers.   

Roast Beef Salad With Mustard & Horseradish Dressing

Roast Beef Salad with Mustard & Horseradish Dressing

This isn't a full blown recipe, more of a suggestion as to what to do with leftovers when you have a roast dinner.  We love nothing more than a nice bit of roast beef on a Sunday, to be fair, we don't usually have leftovers as we both love roasts and also we are both pretty greedy!  However on this occasion, having cooked a piece of beef that feeds 6 people and there were only the two of us, we found ourselves with plenty of leftovers!  Rather than snacking on the leftover beef, I decided to put it into a salad the following day, which I have to say was pretty tasty.  The only recipe to this dish is the dressing that I used.

For the dressing:

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp mustard of your choice
• 1/2 tbsp horseradish
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper

It's as simple as this, whisk together the ingredients with a pinch of salt and pepper until you create an emulsion, that is it!

For my salad I plated up some mixed leaves, radishes, green pepper, cucumber and tomato which I then topped with a warmed Yorkshire pudding, over which I then drizzled the dressing.

Such a simple dish but boy was it good!  I must make a point next time we have a roast to make sure there are leftovers as I will definitely be making this again!

Beef Rendang

Beef Rendang

• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons tamarind paste
• 55g desiccated coconut, toasted in a dry pan (reserve 2 tablespoons for the spice paste)
• 2lbs (1 kilo) beef chuck or stewing beef, cubed into bite size pieces
• 2-3 tbsp water 

For the Spice Paste

• 2 onions roughly chopped
• 1 large jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 2 tbsp toasted coconut (from above)
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the Curry Sauce

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 ½ tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp soy sauce
• 1 400ml can of coconut milk

Method:-

Mix together the salt, sugar, tamarind paste and water in a large bowl.  Add the beef and toss to fully coat.  Add the toasted coconut (reserve 2 tbsp) and mix well.  Set aside.

Put all the spice paste ingredients into a food processor and blend until you get a smooth paste.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan over a medium heat.  Cook the meat, working in batches, until seared on all sides.  Transfer to a bowl.

Add the spice paste and the rest of the curry sauce ingredients and cook for a few minutes.  Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.  Return the beef to the pan, simmer for 10 minutes then place in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees and cook for approx. 3 hours or until the meat begins to fall apart.  You will need stir every 30 minutes or so and also check that the curry doesn’t dry out completely. 

This is a lovely curry, perfect for a Saturday night.  If you prefer a bit more bite to your curry, add more chillies to the spice paste.

Esquites with beef brisket and new potatoes

Esquites with beef brisket and new potatoes

• 4 corn on the cob
• 1/2 red onion finely diced
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• 4 tbsp crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise 
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• Salt & pepper
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• Few slices of jalapeño peppers finely diced
• Kankun habanero sauce

Heat a large frying pan with a tablespoon of vegetable oil.  Slice the corn off the cob, place into the frying pan and cook for several minutes, add the garlic and stir.  Cook for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.  Once done, put the sweet corn into a large bowl, add the coriander, red onion, mayo, pinch of salt, few grinds of black pepper, lime juice and a good few dashes of habanero sauce (more or less depending how hot you like it) along with the feta cheese (reserving some to top the dish) and jalapeño peppers, stir thoroughly and serve with your dish.  

For this dish I served alongside BBQ beef brisket and jersey new potatoes tossed in butter.

This is a fresh and summery dish, great for bbq's and for eating Al fresco.

Kankun Beef Tostadas

Kankun Beef Tostadas

• 6 Fried tortillas
• 1 Cup of warm re-fried beans
• 2 Cups of cooked and shredded skirt steak, chicken or your favourite meat, veggie or seafood
• 3 Cups shredded romaine lettuce
• ½ Small onion, diced
• 1 Cup of crumbled fresco/fresh Mexican cheese (Feta & Parmesan are good substitutes)
• ½ Cup sour cream
• Kankun Sauce

Method:-

Spread a 2 tbsp of re-fried beans on one side of each the tostada (tortilla).  Add the shredded meat, top with lettuce, sour cream and the crumbled cheese.  Serve immediately with your Kankun Sauce of choice.

Steak and Ale Pie

Steak and Ale Pie

• 1 Knob unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 3 Red onions peeled and finely diced
• 3 Sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 3 Sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 3 Fresh bay leaves
• 1kg Braising/Stewing steak cut into chunks
• 500g Chestnut mushrooms cleaned and sliced
• 2 tbsp Tomato puree
• Salt/Pepper
• 3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
• 300ml Stout or dark ale
• 3 Heaped tablespoons plain flour
• 750ml Hot beef stock
• 1 Egg (beaten)

For the pastry

• 300g Plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 100g Atora shredded suet
• 100g Unsalted cold butter, cubed

Place a large casserole dish over a medium heat, add two tbsp. of olive oil and the butter, once heated add the onions and fresh herbs.  Cook for around 20 minutes or until soft and turning golden.  Slice the beef into chunks and add to the pan and brown all over.  Add the mushrooms, tomato puree and a good pinch of salt and pepper.  Stir in the vinegar, beer, flour and hot stock and bring to the boil.  Place into a pre-heated oven (180 degrees) and cook for two hours (Stirring occasionally).

Meanwhile get on with making the pastry.  Add the flour, suet, butter and a pinch of salt into a bowl and use your fingertips to rub the fat into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Stir in 125ml cold water (do this gradually, not all at once), gently bringing it together, do not work too much.  Wrap the pastry in cling film and place in the fridge.

Once the beef has cooked, remove the bay leaves and ladle it into a pie dish (roughly 24 x 30cm and 4cm deep).

Dust a clean work surface and a rolling pin with flour, then roll out the pastry so it’s roughly 1cm thick and a little larger than the pie dish.  Brush the edges of the dish with a little beaten egg then carefully unroll the pastry over the top .  Trim any excess pastry, brush the top with a little more egg and place in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until the pastry is beautifully golden.  I served mine with mustard mash, purple sprouting broccoli, carrots and kale.    

Sweet potato bake with jalapeño chilli beef & feta

Sweet potato bake with jalapeño chilli beef & feta

• 1 Sweet potato
• 3 Tbsps feta
• 2 Tsps chopped jalapeño chillies
• 1 tin black beans
• 1 spring onion
• Handful of cherry tomatoes
• 1 Lime
• Bunch of fresh coriander
• 1/2 cup of diced red onion
• 1/2 Tsp smoked paprika
• Small pack of beef mine
• 1 Tbsp of tomato purée 

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees, wash the sweet potatoe then chop in half lengthways then in half again, chop into small cubes.  Toss the cubes of potato in 1 tbsp of olive oil, place onto an oven tray and cook for 15-20 minutes until soft.  Brown your mince in a pan, once done drain any fat from the pan.  Roughly chop the coriander and jalapeños, finely slice the spring onion into thin discs, keeping the green and white parts separate.  

Peel and finely chop the red onion and chop the tomatoes into quarters.  Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan on a medium heat, cook all but a tbsp of the onions for around 5 minutes until soft, add a pinch of salt and the smoked paprika, stir through and cook for another minute.  Drain and rinse the black beans, add them to the pan along with the cooked mince and the jalapeños and 1 tbsp of tomato purée, stir through and cook for 10 minutes, add 3/4 of the coriander, seasoning, the whites of the spring onions and the juice of half the lime. 

 Mix the cooked potatoes into the chilli beef and continue to cook on a low heat.  Toss together the tomatoes with the remaining coriander and a pinch of salt and pepper, drizzle over a little olive oil with a squeeze of lime and the remaining tbsp of diced red onion, mix together.  Serve your chilli, place the cubed feta on top with the green pieces of spring onion and the tomato salad on the side.

Recipe adapted from Hello Fresh