The Artist formerly known as Beef

The words of the title of this blog were uttered many years ago by me to a very close friend when we spotted, in our local boozer, a bloke we'd been at school with who's nickname in those days was "Beef". Unsurprisingly with a nickname like that it revealed his large size which meant he was a key player in the school rugby team. The team had a very successful run in competitive matches. This was mainly through their strategy of simply passing the ball to Beef who would then repeatedly power through shell-shocked defences, much like a sharp knife through low fat margarine, as many times as was necessary to secure the victory. Today old Beef is just a memory. I've not seen him for years and heard he passed away before he was twenty-five through drug use. I hope that's just a rumour.

However whenever I think of the word Beef, it often reminds me of him and the small period when our lives crossed paths. I still walk the streets that he once did and one Saturday recently, from a shop on those streets, I was able to acquire some delicious diced chunks of British Beef for an innovative and warming winter recipe.

Still well galvanized to explore new recipes by the recent cookery course I'd attended I decided to make a spicy Beef recipe with a fair few fresh ingredients. These were the following:

Ten ounces of fresh chunks of Beef.
Five Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced widely.
Three Garlic Cloves, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced thinly.
A six cm by two cm piece of Root Ginger, peeled and sliced very, very thinly.
An eighth of a pint of Coconut Milk.
A tablespoon of Turmeric.
Three Birdseye Chillis, cut into very small pieces.
A bunch of Fresh Coriander.

To match my new creative flair I listened to Frank Zappa's innovative 1978 double live album "Zappa in New York" which mixes bawdy comedy, jazz-rock virtuosity and peerless guitar to form an irresistible cocktail of entertainment by one of music's all-time greats.

If you want to listen to the record try following this link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pTC8F6i_0I

So to the method. I don't often use meat in recipes but realised that I needed to take more care when cooking the Beef, as compared to Quorn or other meat alternatives, as otherwise I risked under cooking the Beef which could lead to illness. This said I fried the Beef in Olive Oil in a frying pan while turning it regularly for around- twenty five minutes. By that time it was totally brown and well on the way to being cooked.

While the Beef was cooking I prepared the Garlic, Shallots, Ginger, Chili and two thirds of the Coriander. As the Beef came towards the end of its twenty-five minutes in the frying pan I started frying these ingredients in Olive Oil on the hob on a medium heat while stirring regularly. After about five minutes the Shallots were starting to go transparent. That meant it was time to add the Beef.

Fortunately enough I had timed the preparation and initial cooking of the Garlic, Shallots, Ginger, Chillis and two thirds of the Coriander so that when they had been cooking in the Le Cresceut for five minutes the Beef had come to the end of its initial twenty-five minute cooking time. That said I added the Beef and stirred it together with the Turmeric and the Coconut Milk. I then put the lid on the Le Cresceut and, while stirring fairly regularly to stop the ingredients sticking, left the ingredients to stew on the hob on a medium heat for thirty minutes.

 In the meantime I made some mashed Sweet Potato by steaming some chunks of one in a steamer for around twenty-five minutes and then mashing them with a tablespoon of Coconut Milk.

When the stir-fried Beef Mixture was ready I served it with the remaining third of the Fresh Coriander and a side of mashed Sweet Potato. The difference in taste making this recipe with Fresh Ginger and Fresh Coriander made it much more flavoursome than it otherwise would have been. The Chili made it very spicy but not totally overpowering thanks to the presence of the Coconut Milk. It was a well balanced meal and one that was healthy and warming on a winter evening.

Coriander Canopy- spare pieces of Coriander are placed in the mashed Sweet Potato to give the look of a small tree sheltering the spicy Beef, Ginger, Shallot and Chili Stir Fry.