Crumpets with Beef Casserole
Pub grub at its finest! The Michelin star's there for the taking!
As with our other casserole suggestions, given the effort involved, it's worth doing a fair quantity of this if you have friends or a freezer.
| Preparation: 2 days! | Serves: 12 crumpets |
| Cooking: 3.5 hours | Cold-buttered crumpets |
| Ingredients | Quantity (metric) | Quantity (imperial) |
|---|---|---|
| Braising steak (trimmed and cubed) | 1.2 kg | 2.65 lb |
| Guiness | 175 ml | 6 floz |
| Red wine | 175 ml | 6 floz |
| Bay leaves (fresh or dried) | 2 | 2 |
| Garlic cloves (peeled and finely chopped) | 1 | 1 |
| Thyme (fresh) | 2 tsp | 2 tsp |
| Plain flour | 2 tbsp | 2 tbsp |
| Salt and pepper | Plenty | Plenty |
| Vegetable oil | 2 tbsp | 2 tbsp |
| Butter | 25 g | 0.9 oz |
| Medium white onions (peeled and finely chopped) | 1 | 1 |
| Tomato puree | 2 tsp | 2 tsp |
| Worcestershire sauce | 2 tsp | 2 tsp |
| Beef stock | 1 litre | 1.75 pints |
| Browning | 1 tsp | 1 tsp |
| Carrots (peeled and sliced) | 400 g | 14 oz |
| Turnips (peeled and cubed) | 250 g | 8.8 oz |
| Swedes (peeled and cubed) | 250 g | 8.8 oz |
| Cornflour | If | necessary |
METHOD
- Put the braising steak in a bowl with the Guiness (we like to use Foreign Extra 'cos we're decadent like that), red wine, bay leaves, garlic and thyme. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridges for 2 days. This obviously requires some advance planning, but only takes about 10 minutes, and makes the world of difference to the ultimate result.
- We've found it easier to trim the beef at the end of this process.
- Drain the beef in a colander over a bowl, reserving the marinade.
- Trim the beef pieces, dry the meat using kitchen towel, then dust lightly in the flour, seasoned with salt and pepper.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick pan (which you won't be using again) and, at a high heat, fry the meat until browned all over. Depending on the size of your pan, you'll probably want to do this in batches so that every piece has an opportunity to feel the heat. Remove the meat from the pan and set to one side, retaining any juices that it throws off.
- Melt the butter over a low heat in a large saucepan or casserole pot, then stir in the onion. Cook gently for 10 minutes, until soft. Add the tomato puree and Worcestershire Sauce, and then the reserved marinade, stirring to avoid lumps. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes, by which time the liquid should have reduced by about half.
- Add the browning to the stock (this just makes for a nice rich colour; leave it out if this is of no concern to you), then add the meat, the stock and plenty of salt and pepper to the saucepan.
- Bring back to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid, and cook over a very low heat for about an hour and a half.
- Add the carrots, turnips and swedes (which want to be very roughly 1 inch cubed) and carry on cooking for another hour or so.
- By this stage, the meat should be tender and the sauce should have a lovely thick consistency. If it doesn’t, add some cornflour, dissolved in
cold water. If it’s too thick, water is your man.
- We'd suggest serving the casserole to the side of the crumpets, as it's liable to cause sogginess if served on top. Unless of course you're doing a website photo-shoot, in which case you might also want a few asparagus tips.
