As I slow-cooked my way through this week’s recipes, each was declared the champion – until I tasted the next dish. So it continued, until I reached a state of well-fed confusion ...
To feed a crowd, look no further than detoutcoeurLimousin’s flavourful Polish hunter’s stew; hearty doesn’t even begin to describe it, especially when served with buttery mash. The same can be said for Graeme Taylor’s take on Scotch broth, where the pearl barley is served risotto-style with lamb shank braised in ale – cooking in a fug of ale is as fun as it sounds. Staying on the boozy side of things, TwinnyDip’s beer-braised duck was simple to put together, the sticky, fragrant sauce lightly coating the rich duck, and, ready in an hour, it’s as speedy as this kind of meaty indulgence gets. LeftoverLiz’s classic braised endives, or chicory, wrapped in ham and baked in a cheese sauce, should be made by everyone at least once this season, while Bobby Ananta’s Javanese beef with pops of citrus and a sweet and sour edge is perfect batch-cooking fodder.I can hardly wait until I feel too lazy to cook so I can take my last portion out the freezer.
The winner this week, though is warming, flavourful and simple to prepare, with the bonus of being vegetarian if you so choose.
The winning recipe: Artichokes, fennel, and sweet onions braised in wine (main picture)
This is an elegant starter in autumn, when artichokes are in season again. Vegetarians can leave out the anchovy fillets, and add a couple more olives.
Angela Kim. London
Serves 2-4
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
3 large garlic cloves, minced
3 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
½ tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
3 medium globe artichokes, trimmed down to hearts and halved
1 fennel (about 200-250g) cut into 1.5cm wedges (save the fronds for garnish)
250g sweet red onions (cipolla rosa) or regular red onions, cut into wedges
180ml dry vermouth or white wine
180ml light vegetable stock
2 thin slices of lemon
6 peppercorns, lightly crushed
8 kalamata olives, pitted, and roughly chopped
1 tsp salt, or to taste
4 mint leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, then add the minced garlic and fry for about 3 minutes until softened. Add the anchovies and coriander seeds and fry for 1 minute until the anchovy has melted. Add the artichokes, fennel, and onions and cook for another 2 minutes.
2 Add the wine, stock, lemon slices, peppercorns, olives and salt. Bring to the boil and turn the heat down to medium-low. With the lid slightly ajar, braise gently for about 25-30 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
3 Stir in the herbs and fennel fonds just before serving. Check for seasoning. Serve with a small ladle of braising liquid, a drizzle of fruity olive oil and some crusty bread on the side.
Scotch broth stew with barley risotto
This dish is inspired by Scotch broth, transformed from a soup into a stew, withlamb, mutton or hogget slow-braised lamb, and served alongside the main cereal, barley,, cooked as a risotto.
Graeme Taylor, Glasgow
Serves 4
For the stew
4 shanks of lamb, hogget or mutton
Oil, for browning
1 bunch curly kale, roughly chopped
1 large turnip, chopped into 2cm chunks
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
Bouquet garni of 3 bay leaves, 2 sprigs rosemary and about 10 black peppercorns
1 tsp salt
2 bottles of ale, preferably something like Fraoch heather ale
For the risotto
250g pearl barley
175ml red wine
1 litre beef stock
Oil
1 Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/gas mark 1. In a large casserole dish over a medium-high heat, brown the shanks all over in the oil. Surround with the vegetables and the bouquet garni, and add 1 tsp salt. Pour over the ale, making sure that all the vegetables and the bouquet garni are covered, to prevent them burning. Cover and warm the ale through to approaching boiling, then transfer to the oven. Slowly braise for 3 hours, keeping an eye from about 2 hours onwards, to make sure the dish is not drying out.
2 When the shanks are nearly done, heat a small glug of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Rinse the barley in cold water and add to the pan. Stir for 2-3 minutes, then add the wine. Stir well until it has evaporated and add a ladle of the stock. Again stir until evaporated then add another couple. You don’t need to give barley risotto the same love as a standard risotto as it won’t yield the same creamy texture, but stir regularly until the barley is cooked to your liking. I like firm to the bite with a little give, so it takes around 30 minutes.
3 Serve the meat and vegetables alongside the risotto with the rich liquor from the casserole poured over.
Bigos (hunter’s stew) with fennel seed and honey pork
Bigos is a hearty Polish stew made with cabbage, sauerkraut and pork, thought of by many as the Polish national dish. Legend has it that the Polish hunters would cook their bigos in containers strapped to their horses, the heat from the horse gently stewing the meal as they rode. I cook my bigos in the slow cooker, but you can let it simmer away on a low heat on the hob or even in a casserole in the oven. Bigos, like most stews, is always better the day after you make it when the flavours have all had a chance to mingle, but you can of course eat it as soon as it’s cooked. I usually serve my bigos with mashed potato or buttered rye bread, and maybe a little shot of Polish vodka too... Smacznego!
detoutcoeurLimousin, on GuardianWitness
Serves 8
200g smoked bacon lardons
1kg boned pork shoulder, fat trimmed and cut into large chunks
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp honey
200g smoked sausage, such as kielbasa
400g chestnut or porcini mushrooms, sliced
1kg sauerkraut
1 white cabbage, finely chopped
2-3 medium potatoes, quartered
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
800g tinned tomatoes
250ml red wine
1 tsp ground allspice, or a few allspice berries
4-5 bay leaves
1 tbsp smoked paprika (not traditional – but I love the smokey flavour and colour this adds)
Black pepper, to taste
1 Fry the bacon lardons until golden and crisp in a large, heatproof casserole dish, then remove the lardons with a slotted spoon. Leave the fat in the pan. Add the chunks of pork and brown on all sides. Add the fennel seeds and honey to the pan, and continue to fry for a few minutes to release the flavour from the fennel seeds and to allow the honey to get stickier and caramelised on the pork.
2 Add all the other ingredients to your casserole dish or a slow cooker; then give it all a few stirs to ensure all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Cook gently on a low heat for 3-6 hours. I usually cook it for about 6 hours in my slow cooker, checking regularly to make sure it’s not drying out.
3 After a low and slow cook the white cabbage will have softened down considerably and all the ingredients melded together. You can serve it immediately but I would recommend making this dish a day in advance.
Javanese tamarind beef
This dish is inspired by asêm-asêm ungkêp. Ungkêp is a Javanese cooking term that is similar to braising.
Bobby Ananta, Leicester
Serves 4
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
500g stewing steak, diced
600g flat-rib beef, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
5 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
4 red chillies, finely sliced
¼ tsp ground white pepper
4 makrut lime leaves
2 bay leaves
1 lemongrass: bruise the stalk and tie the leaves together in a knot
2cm galangal, bruised
3 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp palm sugar
Salt, to taste
900ml–1 litre water
1 Heat the oil in a large pan, add the stewing steak and flat rib beef, then fry for 5‑7 minutes until browned. Add the garlic, shallots, chillies, white pepper and fry for another 2 minutes.
2 Add the water, makrut lime leaves, bay leaves, lemongrass, galangal, tamarind paste, palm sugar and salt, to taste. Cover with the water, then cook on a low heat for 3 hours, or put it in the oven 160C/320F/gas mark 3 for 3 hours. Serve with steamed white rice.
Beer braised duck
Our dad used to make beer braised duck once a month – the only dish for which he would bother to go into the kitchen. We don’t know how the beer found its way into Chinese kitchens in the first place, but this is definitely one of the best invention using foreign ingredients! Use a whole duck if you are serving this alongside many other dishes in a Chinese meal – the traditional way we eat it (and if you are comfortable chopping the duck up into pieces AFTER it is cooked), or use 2 duck legs and 2 duck breasts to serve 4 people in a one-pot-meal.
TwinnyDip, via GuardianWitness
Serves 4-6
2 duck legs and 2 duck breasts or a whole duck, clean and pat, dried, and innards removed
660ml beer
3-4 thai bird’s eye chillies, to taste
2cm piece of ginger, thickly sliced
5 whole garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
1 large onion, quartered
2 star anise
2 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
¼ tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
Vegetable oil
500g pak choi
Salt and white pepper, to taste
1 Sear the duck in a large wok (or saucepan), turning constantly to ensure that the duck consistently browned on all sides. When done, remove the duck and duck fat from the pan. Set aside.
2 In the same pan, add back 2-3 tbsp of duck fat (if insufficient, use vegetable oil) at high heat. When hot, add chilies, ginger, garlic, onion, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds and Sichuan peppercorns. Cook until sizzling and fragrant but not burnt; this will take about 3 minutes. Put the duck and any remaining duck fat back in, then cook for 2 minutes. Add the light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, cooking for another 2 minutes, turning the duck a few times to ensure it is evenly coated by the sauces. Add the beer, making sure the duck is fully submerged; if not, add a bit of boiling water (or more beer, if so desired!). Cover the pan with a lid and let simmer at low to medium heat for around 45 minutes, turning occasionally. After 45 minutes, remove the lid then continue to simmer for another 15 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and is reduced by half and the duck is tender.
3 Add the pak choi into the pan. Cook uncovered for another 5-10 minutes until the pak choi is soft and have absorbed some of the sauce. Add salt and white pepper to taste. If the sauce is still really thin at this point, remove duck and pak choi and set aside on serving dish. Cover the duck and pak chois to keep warm. Continue to cook the sauce until it has reached desired consistency.
4 If you are using a whole duck, chop it up into pieces to serve on a large dish. If using duck legs and duck breasts, serve duck and pak chois drizzled in the reduced sauce with lots of steamed rice on four serving dishes.
Braised chicory (‘Facon Grandmere’)
Endives, or chicory, are becoming more readily available in the UK, but are often unpopular because of their bitter taste. This can easily be rectified with the addition of a little sugar to the cooking liquor and by braising the endives in vegetable stock, rather than plain water.
LeftoverLiz, via GuardianWitness
Serves 2-4
Oil, for frying
4 endives/chicory, halved lengthways
1 tsp sugar
1 vegetable stock cube
Around 300ml boiling water
4 slices cooked ham
Butter, for greasing
1 large handful of breadcrumbs
For the sauce
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp plain flour
400ml milk
Salt and black pepper
1 tsp mustard
A grating of nutmeg
100g grated emmental/strong cheddar
1 egg yolk
1 Heat the oil in a frying pan. Place the endives in the pan, cut-side down. Brown a little, then add 1 tsp sugar, a crumbled vegetable stock cube and a cup of water. Cover and braise for 20 minutes, or until the endives are tender.
2 Meanwhile, make the sauce by melting the butter and mixing in the flour. Add the milk and bring to the boil, stirring frequently to thicken. Take off the heat and whisk in plenty of salt, pepper, mustard and a grating of nutmeg. Stir in the cheese, allow to cool, then add the egg yolk to the sauce.
3 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Uncover the endives and boil off any remaining liquid. Remove from the pan and wrap each pair of endive halves in a slice of ham. (Rubber gloves can help at this stage if the veg are too hot to handle.) Lay in a buttered gratin dish and cover with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs and a further grating of nutmeg, then bake for 25 minutes, until browned and bubbling.
