Slow Cooked Beef Short Ribs with Chorizo and Borlotti Beans

I came up with this recipe last week, when I was craving something warming, but wanted to avoid the stodginess that winter food can often have. I used some flavourings that I associate more with late summer, such as orange, chilli and fennel, which lifted the dish from potential blandness.

The butcher near me had beef short ribs on offer, but any cut suitable for slow cooking would work. I enjoyed cooking with them though, using a bone-in cut meant the dish had a real body to it.

 For the beans, I had been given some home-grown borlotti beans, so I used them, but they don't have to be borlotti beans, and they certainly don't have to be fresh- dried or tinned would work fine too. If you are using dried, soak and cook them separately first. For tinned beans, I would add them to the dish about 1 hour before it is ready, so they don't disintegrate into the cooking liquid.

We just ate this with lots of bread and butter.

750g-1kg beef short ribs
200g chorizo- I used a pack of Brindisa mini chorizos
200ml red wine
1-2 tbsp plain flour
Beef stock, to cover- approx 500ml
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 stick celery, diced
2 red onions, peeled and sliced
1 bay leaf
approx 6 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
small bunch thyme leaves
sprig rosemary
Juice of 1 small orange, plus a strip of zest (ideally use an unwaxed orange)
1-2 dried chillis
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 handful fresh/ dried, soaked and cooked borlotti beans (or one tin)

Roughly chop the chorizo into chunks, or, if you happen to be using the same type as I did, just cut them into individual sausages. Brown the chorizo in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Remove with a slotted spoon to a casserole dish, leaving behind the paprika-y oil. Put the flour on a plate, and season, then lightly coat the beef ribs with the seasoned flour. Brown in the same pan used to cook the chorizo, over a high heat, so the surface gets nicely caramelized. Whilst this is cooking, add all the other ingredients to the casserole dish except for the beef stock, and stir to combine. Add the beef once full browned, and add enough beef stock to cover. Bring to a simmer on the hob, then turn the heat down, cover, and cook for approximately 3 hours, or until the beef is very tender. I chose to remove the rib bones from the beef, cut it into chunks, and stir it back into the stew before serving.

Germknödel and Custard

I am always on the lookout for new recipes, and have a ever-growing list of dishes to try at some undetermined point in the future. As soon as I saw this recipe for sweet, steamed jam filled dumplings, I had to make them- normally I  shop around for a recipe, to find the something perfect. But I was cold, hungry, and utterly seduced by the idea of dumplings, custard and a sweet poppy seed butter in one dish. And they have become one of my favourite puddings-something for a cold day, when you are enjoying a cold day indoors with the sort of friends who are willing to give you a hand with mixing dough or heating up custard, or even just chat while you shape and fill the buns.

My knowledge of Austrian cuisine really only goes so far as germknödel. But as far as introductions go, they make a spectacular one. The name germknödel, and their English description of jam dumpling evokes a heavy stodgy dish- in fact they are surprisingly light- in terms of taste, at least.

Germknodel for three.

The recipe came from a Guardian article 'The 10 Best Dumpling Recipes', which is as good as it sounds. If you want to make your own custard, I recommend Delia's recipe- it is very good. However, the dumpling recipe is quite involved, so I think good shop bought custard would be a perfectly acceptable accompaniment.

The dough after proving- it is very soft and silky, and really nice to work with!

Braised Red Cabbage with Pomegranate Molasses and Cranberries

Red cabbage always comes out at Christmas time, it goes perfectly with my favourite festive meats, goose and gammon. It also has the bonus of benefiting of being prepared a day of so in advance, something that's definitely helpful around Christmas if you're responsible for most of the cooking. At other times of year, it's a fantastic foil for the fattiness of duck and salmon.

Pomegranate molasses had it's heyday as a fashionable ingredient a few years ago, when Nigella brought it to the masses, and might be dismissed by the trend conscious now. But like other foodstuffs that suffered overuse-balsamic vinegar, sundried tomatoes, that doesn't mean they're not good. Pomegranate molasses is dark, sticky and sour, adding an extra depth to the cabbage.

Ingredient
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 red cabbage, cored and finely sliced
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
25g dried cranberries
250ml cranberry juice
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Method
In a casserole, heat the olive oil over a medium heat, and fry the onion in it until softened. Add the garlic, and cook for a few minutes more. Stir in the remaining ingredients except the vinegar, season, and just bring the liquid to a simmer. Put on a lid, turn the heat down and leave to cook, stirring when you remember. You can't really overcook red cabbage, but 2 hours should do it. Reheat when you are ready to eat.

Vacherin Mont D'or

There are certain foods that make the cold weather almost bearable, and this pungent, instant fondue is one of them. It's one of the few cheeses that is still considered seasonal- September to April, according to its website, but I tend to eat it around Christmas time. Unless you are feeling extravagant, it's probably the only time of year that you'd justify its price.
Once you have obtained your cheese, preheat your oven to 180C. Remove any plastic wrapping from the box. Take off the lid and score a cross about 3cm wide in the centre of the cheese. Poke in a few thin slices of garlic, drizzle over a few spoonfuls of dry white wine, and season with pepper. Replace the lid, and wrap the entire box in foil. Bake for around 25 minutes until it is liquid and piping hot all the way through- test with a skewer if you are not sure.
Remove from the foil, and serve with baguette, cornichons and some bitter leaves. A little charcuterie alongside is wonderful but not obligatory.

Beef and Guinness Casserole with Sage Dumplings

Ingredients:
25 grams butter
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced,
1 stick celery, diced
Handful thyme leaves, chopped
Few tbps flour
Olive oil
1 kg beef shin or other stewing beef, cut into 3cm pieces
200 grams bacon or pancetta, diced
500 ml Guinness or other stout
500 ml beef stock
Worcestershire Sauce, to taste
250 grams chestnut mushrooms, sliced

For the dumplings:
175 grams self raising flour
80 grams suet
Pinch salt
5 sage leaves, finely chopped
Water

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. In a casserole, slowly cook the onion, carrot and celery over a medium-low heat in the butter on the hob. While the vegetables are doing their thing, heat a tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan and spread the flour out on a plate with some seasoning. Toss the beef shin in the flour and when the pan is good and hot, brown the pieces in batches, transferring to a bowl or similar as you go. You may need to add some extra oil. Cook the bacon in the same pan until the fat starts to run, and put with the beef. Return your attention to the vegetables by stirring in the thyme leaves. Cook for about half a minute. Put the meats into the casserole along with the Guinness and the stock. Season with salt, pepper and Worcestershire Sauce. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in the oven. Now leave it to cook for at least 2 hours until the meat is very tender.

At this stage you can let it cool and continue when you want to eat it later. Otherwise, about half an hour before you want to eat, cook the mushrooms in a little butter until the juices start to run. Add them to the casserole. Sift together the salt and flour in a mixing bowl, then stir in the suet and chopped sage. Mix with enough water to make a firmish dough, and shape into 6 balls. Place them on top of the stew, and cook for another 25 minutes with the lid off until the dumplings are golden on top. Serve with bread and butter, or creamy mashed potato.