Beef Birmingham Recipes

Steps:

• For the marinade: Combine the garlic, bay leaves, carrots, celery, onions and wine in a large bowl or container. Add the beef; cover and let sit in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight. (This is a really important step: it makes a huge flavor difference.)
• For the stew: Remove the beef from the marinade. Strain the veggies and bay leaves from the marinade and discard. Reserve 2 cups of the marinade.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Coat a large, wide pan or Dutch oven with olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. Sprinkle the beef with salt and toss with the flour; do not flour the beef until you're ready to brown it. Add the flour-coated beef to the hot pan, but be sure to not crowd the pan; you will need to work in four batches. Brown the meat well on all sides, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the pan to a baking sheet.
• After the first two batches, deglaze the pot with 1/2 cup of the reserved marinade, scraping up any browned bits. Drain the liquid into a small bowl. Add more olive oil to the pan to coat and cook the remaining two batches of meat. Add the meat to the baking sheet. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup marinade, scraping up any browned bits.
• Add the bacon and cook until it gets brown and crispy, about 5 minutes. Toss in the mushrooms, carrots, celery, garlic and onions, and season with salt. Cook until the mixture starts to soften and becomes very aromatic, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1 cup marinade and deglaze the pan, stirring up any browned bits, 1 minute. Add the beef. Stir to combine and cook until the wine has reduced by half, 1 to 2 minutes. Add enough of the beef stock to just cover the surface of the beef. Toss in the bay leaves and thyme bundle. Cover the pan, bring the liquid to a boil and put in the oven.
• Cook the beef for 2 hours. During the last hour of cooking time, add the potatoes. Cover the pan with the lid and put the stew back in the oven to cook for an additional hour.
• Remove the pot from the oven and skim off any excess grease from the surface of the stew. Garnish with the chives and serve with crusty bread to sop up all the sauce.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 450. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan set over medium-high heat, until it is nearly smoking. Add the beef pieces in batches and brown well all over, approximately 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
• Add remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to pan set to medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrots, and cook, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for approximately 5 minutes more, until the vegetables are tender and the onion is translucent. Add sherry, scraping up the browned bits, and boil until it is thick and syrupy. Pour in the red wine, bring to a boil and reduce by 1/4. Remove from the heat.
• Arrange the beef in a Dutch oven or large oven-safe pot with a lid. Add the vegetables and their cooking liquid, along with enough warm stock to come three-quarters of the way up the sides of the meat. Add the thyme, parsley stems, bay leaves and dried mushrooms. Cover the pot.
• Place the beef in the oven, and reduce the heat to 310. Cook until the meat is very tender, approximately 2 hours. When the meat is done, transfer to a cutting board and let it rest, uncovered.
• Strain the braising liquid into a saucepan, pressing on the vegetables with the back of a spoon. Place the saucepan over very low heat and bring to a gentle simmer, skimming off the fat that rises to the top. Continue simmering and skimming until the liquid is slightly reduced and little fat remains, approximately 20 minutes.
• Put the beef back in the pot, add a little of the braising broth and warm gently over low heat.
• In a large sauté pan or Dutch oven set over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. When it begins to foam, add the peppers, carrots, onion, leek and bay leaf, and cook for 2 minutes or until the onion and leek just begin to soften. Cover and cook over low heat for approximately 5 minutes, until tender.
• Add the rice and stir for 1 minute to coat. Add 1 ½ cups of broth and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, approximately 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in another pan, melt another tablespoon of butter set over medium-high heat. When it begins to foam, add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until they are soft and tender, in the case of chanterelles, approximately 5 minutes.
• Transfer the finished rice to a serving bowl, discard the bay leaf and stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and mushrooms. Season with thyme. Serve the meat over rice pirlau with more of the braising liquid spooned on top.

Steps:

• Cut beef into thin slices.
• In a large pot, saute minced garlic, meat, chopped onions, and celery until meat is brown.
• Add broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar. Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat, simmer until meat is tender.
• Serve over rice, pasta or potatoes.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7.
• Sit the 1kg beef fillet on a roasting tray, brush with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with pepper, then roast for 15 mins for medium-rare or 20 mins for medium. When the beef is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven to cool, then chill in the fridge for about 20 mins.
• While the beef is cooling, chop 250g chestnut (and wild, if you like) mushrooms as finely as possible so they have the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. You can use a food processor to do this, but make sure you pulse-chop the mushrooms so they don't become a slurry.
• Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and 50g butter in a large pan and fry the mushrooms on a medium heat, with 1 large sprig fresh thyme, for about 10 mins stirring often, until you have a softened mixture.
• Season the mushroom mixture, pour over 100ml dry white wine and cook for about 10 mins until all the wine has been absorbed. The mixture should hold its shape when stirred.
• Remove the mushroom duxelle from the pan to cool and discard the thyme.
• Overlap two pieces of cling film over a large chopping board. Lay 12 slices prosciutto on the cling film, slightly overlapping, in a double row.
• Spread half the duxelles over the prosciutto, then sit the fillet on it and spread the remaining duxelles over.
• Use the cling film's edges to draw the prosciutto around the fillet, then roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of cling film to tighten it as you go.
• Chill the fillet while you roll out the pastry.
• Dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll out a third of the 500g pack of puff pastry to a 18 x 30cm strip and place on a non-stick baking sheet.
• Roll out the remainder of the 500g pack of puff pastry to about 28 x 36cm.
• Unravel the fillet from the cling film and sit it in the centre of the smaller strip of pastry.
• Beat the 2 egg yolks with 1 tsp water and brush the pastry's edges, and the top and sides of the wrapped fillet.
• Using a rolling pin, carefully lift and drape the larger piece of pastry over the fillet, pressing well into the sides.
• Trim the joins to about a 4cm rim. Seal the rim with the edge of a fork or spoon handle.
• Glaze all over with more egg yolk and, using the back of a knife, mark the beef Wellington with long diagonal lines taking care not to cut into the pastry.
• Chill for at least 30 mins and up to 24 hrs. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.
• Brush the Wellington with a little more egg yolk and cook until golden and crisp - 20-25 mins for medium-rare beef, 30 mins for medium. Allow to stand for 10 mins before serving in thick slices.