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Ox Heart Ragu
The tale behind this dish goes something like…. We’ve been eating Pork with everything for the last few days thanks to a ½ price deal. So on Thursday for a bit of fun and a change of culinary scenery I bumbled off to intentionally got something a bit ‘Ropey’. For £1.65 we didn’t have great expectations for this chopped up atrocity. How wrong can you be?!
Clearly it a slow cook gig and you’d really not want to try this on a camp-stove at this time of year. But in the summer over a fire……
Ingredients:-
450g of Diced Ox Heart, steeped in Milk
1 Tin of chopped Tomatoes, plus ½ a tin of water
2 Tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar
2 Carrot, finely chopped
2 Stick of Celery, finely chopped
1 Large Red Onion, diced
1 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
2 Tbsp of plain Flour (Gluten free foe us)
1 Pint of mixed Beef and Red Wine Stock (We’re using Morrison’s own brand Stock Pots – Which are cheap and really good)
6 Mushrooms, finely sliced
1 Tsp of dried Oregano
½ Tsp of Cumin powder
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
A dish of Oyster Sauce
1 Tsp of Worcester Sauce
1 Tsp of Gluten free Yeast Extract (Own brand Marmite)
1 Tsp of dried Thyme
½ Tsp of Onion Salt
½ Tsp of Garlic Salt
A sprinkle of Mono-Sodium Glutamate
Oil to Fry
Salt & Pepper to season
Italian style hard Cheese and fresh Parsley to garnish
Method:-
(1) Drain the Ox Heart of the Milk.
(2) Season the Flour with Cumin, Garlic Salt, Onion Salt and Salt & Pepper.
(3) Coat the chopped Ox Heart in the seasoned Flour.
(4) In a large frying pan fry to Heart in a little Oil to seal on all sides.
(5) Remove the Heart and set aside.
(6) Add a little more Oil to the pan.
(7) Add the Onions, Carrot, Garlic & Celery and fry over a medium heat to soften.
(8) Return the Heart to the pan and stir in the Tomato Puree.
(9) Add the Stock and simmer for a few minutes.
(10) Add the Oregano, Thyme and Mushrooms and simmer for a couple of minutes.
(11) Add the remaining ingredients and stir.
(12) Transfer to a casserole dish and place in the oven.
(13) Cook at 160c and 3 ½ to 4 hours.
(14) Serve over Rice Stock Stick Noodles and garish with Italian style hard Cheese and fresh Parsley.
This was really good and far exceeded our rather bleak expectations! There’s also over half of the Ragu left which we’ll be heating and serving up in Jacket Potatoes this evening. Not bad going for £1.65…….
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- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
Sue saw a recipe on-line for stretchy Mozzarella Onion Rings and obviously had to have a go at her own version! I mean it’s rare that there is a recipe we’ve not had a pop at…. We’ll be trying a #2 version at some stage with a batter as the Sour Dough Bread we used for the Bread Crumbs was perhaps a bit heavy for the job.
Ingredients:-
1 Very large Onion
A block of Mozzarella
Flour (Gluten free here)
Sour Dough Bread (Gluten free – Yellow Sticker!) crumbed in a food processor
Eggs, beaten for an Egg wash
Onion & Garlic Salt (Optional – Use whatever you fancy to season the Bread Crumbs)
Method:-
(1) Peel the Onion and cut two 1cm strips from the thickest central area. The remaining Onion will be fine in the fridge for later use.
(2) Gentle remove the outer ring and then the third ring in. Again keep the remaining Onion, but you actually only need these two rings for each Onion Ring.
(3) Cut strips of Mozzarella wide enough to fill the gap between the two Onion Rings and insert.
(4) Dip the Cheese stuffed rings in the Egg wash and then Flour.
(5) Egg wash again and then dredge in the seasoned Bread Crumbs.
(6) Deep fry until golden brown and the Cheese is melted.
We served ours over a Gammon steak with a Wholegrain Mustard sauce. Perhaps a bit fuddle, but very tasty!
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- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
We ferment veg on a rolling basis these days. A little of the brine from a previous batch works as a bacteria ‘Prime’ and gets the fermentation off to a flying start. But pretty much anything with any natural sugars in it will work if you have a clip top jar, some Salt and Water.
The ingredients veg wise are really arbitrary now. We had a catering bag of Garlic which was destined for composting as it had done the rounds through the local Food Banks and was sprouting. So I added a couple of quartered Red Onions to fill the jar. We did Cauliflower and fresh Chilli a while ago which Sue really liked. So the Cauliflower and mixed Peppers is a take on that, but perhaps not with as much heat? We shall see…..
The basic ‘Good for all’ brine is a 2% concentration. So 2 to 3 heaped Table Spoons of Salt per Litre of water is a good starting concentration. I use Himalayan Salt as it doesn’t have the anti-caking agents added which can sometimes inhibit the fermentation.
The only rule of thumb with one of the oldest food preservation techniques is just to make sure that your brine is at room temperature i.e. not too hot, before adding the veg. If you boil the brine to dissolve the salt the heat will kill the bacteria which you need and the whole gig will just go bad!!! Really bad! That’s the worst that can possibly happen but you’ll know by sight and smell.
The best that can happen is that it will ferment and you’ll end up with pickles which make shop bought ones seem very bland.
Also the Lactobacillus Bacteria are supposedly very good for your ‘Gut Health’ That’s not why we make these pickles though. We just like them and it’s a great way to get the best out of veg which was perhaps well beyond it’s best when we got it…...
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- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
It’s a play on words really as there’s a yellow sticker Chicken Burger invasion in our version of an Egg Benedict. The Chicken mince I found at the same time was truly dreadful and regardless of how little it says on a yellow sticker, I’ll never buy it again. But these Burgers were very tasty. How the results from clearly mechanically recovered Chicken can be so variable, beats me…..
Ingredients for the Hollandaise Sauce:-
100g of Butter (Margarine), melted
2 Egg Yolkes
1 Tsp of White Wine Vinegar
Salt & Pepper
Method:-
(1) Whisk the Egg Yolks and White Wine Vinegar in a bowl.
(2) Place the bowl of a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl is not immersed in the water.
(3) Slowly pour in the melted Butter while continuously whisking, until the sauce has thickened.
(4) Season with Salt & Pepper.
Additional Ingredients:-
A thick slice of Sour Dough bread per person (Gluten free for us)
Spinach
Chicken Burgers
Streaky Bacon
Vinegar
2 Eggs per person
Margarine
Fresh (Home grown) Parsley to garnish
Method:-
(1) Grill the Bacon until it is crispy.
(2) Gently fry the Burgers until they are browned on both sides and set aside under a warm grill.
(3) In a frying pan gently wilt the Spinach in a little Margarine.
(4) Toast the bread on both sides and set aside.
(5) Bring a pan of water to the boil and stir in a little Vinegar.
(6) Swirl the water and then poach the Eggs individually.
(7) Build by adding the wilted Spinach to the toasted bread. Next cut the Burgers in half and add them. Now add the poached Eggs. Pour the Hollandaise Sauce over the top and dress with the crispy Bacon and a sprinkle of Parsley.
This really was a very tasty meal. The Bread and Burgers were both yellow sticker finds. So although it looks a bit fancy this recipe was well within budget!
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- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
The recycled Fay Bentos tins made an appearance again for a casserole in a giant Yorkshire Pudding. But we had a few rather sad Parsnips in the fridge so Sue cut Parsnip Crisps to add to the top.
Ingredients:-
Parsnips!
Method:-
(1) Cut into thin matchsticks.
(2) Deep fry until golden brown and crispy.
They look great, cost very little and add a bit of sweetness and crunch. OK they might look a bit ‘Chefy’ but there’s no reason that a budget meal should be a boring meal!
- Details
- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
If there really has to be a reason for making Scotch Eggs we’ll probably have to blame the Chicken Sausages we were given rather than them being composted. But really if we’re honest Sue made them because (A) It’s fun. (B) She can!
Ingredients:-
Eggs Boiled with their shells removed.
The meal from Chicken Sausages.
Turmeric
Mixed Herb
Garlic Salt
Onion Salt
1 Egg, beaten
Salt & Pepper
Gluten Free Bread crumbs
Method:-
(1) While the Eggs cool strip the skins off the Sausages and season with a little Salt & Pepper.
(2) Add Garlic & Onion Salt and Turmeric the your Bread crumbs.
(3) Coat each Egg in a generous layer of season Sausage meat.
(4) Roll in the Egg wash and then in the Bread crumbs to coat.
(5) Place in a pre-heated oven at 180c for 30 minutes and turn after 15 minutes.
The Bread we used was yellow sticker Sour Dough at 25p a loaf. The Sausages were FOC and we’d made the Salad Cream a few nights earlier. So all we realistically paid full price for on the main plate was the Pea shoot salad, Cherry Tomatoes and a Spring Onion. Very tasty and remarkably filling for what looks like a light snack!
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