Thursday 20 December - Oiseaux Sans Tetes

Some rather nice looking Topside slices, along with a post on the Food Board about Beef Olives reminded me of this recipe - perfect for a cold, wet winters day - and the first day of the Christmas holidays for me.

The beef was bashed out, and spread with mustard.

This was then topped with a slice of parma ham, some sliced cornichons and some red onion.

 

Rolled up to look like little sparrows without heads, and tied with string.

 

They were cooked in a sauce made from finely sliced leeks, white wine and stock, until tender. The stock was finished with 3% creme fraiche that I mixed with some cornflour to stop it splitting in the hot stock.

These were served with diced potatoes which I cooked for 10 minutes, then tossed with a mix of semolina, chopped garlic and fresh rosemary and then roasted in olive oil

 

 

These came out beautifully crispy, and went really well with the beef.

Saturday 8 December - Mexican Pork and Red Sauce

Pork Loin was Lidls special offer this week, and I found a recipe for pork loin with 'red sauce' so we decided to go with a version of this.

The sauce was tomatoes, onions and garlic which we roasted in a hot oven until blackened, and then whizzed with chipotles, vinegar, oregano and some water. The pork was simply roasted.

We made some tortillas to serve with this - these are just masa harina and warm water then fried in a dry pan.

We also made some bits and pieces to serve with the meat and sauce - black beans, guacamole and some red onions pickled in lime juice.

We probably didn't need the meat, as the rest of the meal was pretty tasty without it!

For desert a chili chocolate fondant - this had some cayenne and also a chopped red chilli added to the mix. Served with some vanilla ice cream. Will be doing this one again - was perfect after a Mexican style main course.

Sunday 2 December - Asian Beef Stew

We spotted this recipe on a Nigella Lawson programme last week, so thought we'd give it a go, but with a few tweaks here and there.

The recipe used beef shin - not easily available round here on a Sunday, so we bought some lean braising steak and cut it into cubes. 

 Onions garlic and ginger were processed, along with some coriander and this was gently fried before the other flavours were added along with some beef stock. We also amended the recipe by frying the beef cubes and adding a bit of flour.

 

The stew went into the oven for about 3 hours and then was served with mashed potato and parsnip cooked with some fresh ginger, and mashed with some yoghurt and a dash of sesame oil, and a crisp salad of carrot, mooli, chillis and spring onion dressed with lime and fish sauce.