Upper Class Beef

 An inspired, tasty meal at what is hoped will become the new "local" helped me in creating this beef meal recently. Thanks to the Peak Edge Hotel and Red Lion Restaurant for inspiration. Check out their website and amazing menu at: Red Lion Restaurant in the Peaks - Peak Edge Hotel 4* and the beef steak with Shallot and Chive sauce below:

One of the the best things about dining out is discovering new recipes and taking the inspiration from those recipes back home to apply to your own cooking. It is a bit like living someone else's dream and then borrowing its contents to help you live your own dream. The recipe in question was venison with green vegetables and blackberries and I felt I could create something similarly tasty using some Beef steak from the freezer. 

The ingredients of this dish are :

1 piece of Rump Beef Steak.

5 leaves of Kale.

2 Parsnips, peeled, topped, tailed and cut into batons. 

For the Shallot Sauce

1 Shallot, peeled, topped and tailed and then cut thinly.

5 chive stems diced thinly. 

10 ounces of melted, Salted Butter.

A tablespoon of Cornflour 

A pinch of Mustard.

The music on the player for this one was 10cc's 1978 record "Bloody Tourists". I first encountered this record on a rack between several Genesis albums at the house of the father of a good friend of mine at the turn of the century. Released two years after the departure of important founder members Godley and Creme, the two remaining original members and a core of session men are on good form with the big hit "Dreadlock Holiday" and plenty of other quality numbers on the record to bolster its brilliance. 

Let's now find out how to make this recipe, it is like this:

1. Fry the Rump Steak. For rare, which isn't really Halal, 2-3 minutes per side but to keep it Halal try frying it for closer to 6-8 minutes per side on a medium heat.

2. In a separate frying pan, heat some butter and then fry the Kale on a medium heat for around 10 minutes to create a crunchy texture and a sweet taste. 

3. Steam the parsnips for 15 minutes and add into the frying pan with the Kale when that is finishing cooking.

4. To make the Sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the Shallot cooking it on a medium heat for about five minutes. Turn off the heat and add the Cornflour, Chives and Mustard and stir them thoroughly together. Re-heat and cook on the hob for a further five minutes ensuring the sauce is quite runny. 

Serve by arranging the Steak, Kale and Parsnip in a creative way on a plate and then drizzle the Shallot Sauce over the Steak. 

The richness and fresh ingredients of the Sauce coupled with the crunch of the Kale and protein of the steak made this feel like a restaurant quality dish was being served at home. 

Field of Breams

To quote a vintage 1980s episode of Doctor Who, it was a wet November on Earth. The day never seemed to get light due to the short daylight hours and heavy cloud with relentless rain. It's weather like this that makes the moods of many British people see-saw between elation during the long sunny summer days and sadness during the winter months. However, a wider perspective on faith, the world we live in and some good quality food can chase seasonal sadness away. 

It was the philosophy above that was taken into the making of today's recipe of Sea Bream with Greens.

The ingredients for this dish are:

1 Sea Bream, gutted and thoroughly washed.

1 bag of Spinach

8 Ounces of pre-cooked Boiled Rice.

12 Peanuts.

1 Large Parsnip, peeled, topped, tailed and cut into the shape of some batons.

Small Chunks of Fresh Cucumber

On the player was Taylor Swift's current offering "Life of a Showgirl" . Taylor's career before this album has been stellar and in her own she has been as iconic to the current generation as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson were to their own generations. The album finds her moving beyond the bittersweet songs of lost love and distrust and into a glorious technicolour of a wider lyrical range and varied arrangements. This is, perhaps, in no small part due to her finding a genuine romantic partner in her life. 

So to the method of this dish:

1. Fry the Sea Bream on a medium heat turning frequently for around 35-40 minutes. The goal is to make the skin crisp as a potato chip while ensuring the flesh inside the Bream is cooked.

2. Steam the parsnip for around twenty minutes until soft but still retaining a bit of crunchiness.

3. Fry the Spinach, Rice and Peanuts on a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the Spinach has softened and the mixture has compacted. 

4. Remove the Bream from the pan once cooked and remove the flesh from the bones and the gills . 

5. Serve and garnish with the Cucumber Cubes.

It was the first time I had made this dish and the Nuts with Spinach provided important iron while the Bream had a fresh but quite rich taste to make this a filling treat on a wet winter's night.