Braised Beef shin with hot and sour salad.

The beef shin

1 700 gsm piece of shin..I ordered a whole one, and doubled the quantities..
1 tblsp thick sweet soy (Or ketchap manis)
oil
5 cloves garlic
1 1/2 inch piece of ginger
1 clean corriander root
1 small red onion
100 ml chinese cooking wine
1 3/4 oz oyster sauce
2 cups home made chicken stock
50 ml black chinese vinegar
50g crushed chinese rock candy
1 tsp sea salt

The Salad

50 ml lime juice
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tblsp fish sauce
2 birdseye chillis, finely sliced
10 corriander leaves
10 mint leaves
1 spring onilon finely shredded
1 red eschallot finely sliced

I made the salad dressing, put it in a jar, and put all the salad ingredients into a zip loc bag, so it was ready to go when I served, but I was doing 12 courses that night.

Make the braied beef

Rub the thick soy over the beef. heat the oil in a pan and seal beef on all sides. Place in a deep braising pan. Ina mortar and pestle, pound the ginger, corriander, garlicand onion to a paste. Fry the paste till golden brown, discard excess oil, and deglaze pan with cooking wine. add the rock candy, oyster sauce and chicken stock, bring to the boil, and skimm off scum. Pour over the beef, cover with kitchen paper and foil, and cook for around 1 1/2 hrs, or until beef is soft. strain the liquid, and boil hard till reduced by about a third. add the vinegar and salt, it should taste rich, thick and meaty.

Salad.

Combine the lime juice, chili powder,fish sauce and chillis. This should be very hot and sour. In a bowl, toss the rest of the ingredients.

Slice the shin into attractive portions, (About a cm thick) re heat it in the braising liquid, place on serving platter, pour over a generous amount of the liquid. Place the salad on top, and pour over the dressing.

Tempest "The Entertainer" Enjoying The Day - 15 years, 5 months, 12 days ago

I mentioned to Louise that I add chilli when i poach paers, she wondered why, so, here goes.

Peel pears, leaving stem in tact, put in a saucepan containing wine, some cardamon pods, a cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, an orange peel and some orange juice, some brown sugar, water, a pinch of nutmeg, and a pinch of chilli, just a tiny bit. (Also anything else that you have in your spice cupboard that appeals, I sometimes add a vanilla pod, cummin seeds or a star anise) Poach at a low simmer for for a LONG time,maybe two to 4 hrs, turning them occasionaly, be very gentle with them. when done, reduce some of the liquid, in a fry pan. Pop a pear on a slab of icecream, drizzle with liquid and toss a bit of grated orange chocolate over the top. It's delicious.


Tempest "The Entertainer" Enjoying The Day - 15 years, 8 months, 18 days ago

Two descriptions that made me smile.

A friend forwarded an e mail to me, that he had sent to his mate. I quote "You remember Tempest? (Comedy club, sailing) The sexy one who laughs a lot"

I replied with " It's the frumpy one who grumbles a lot these days" Somewhere in the middle, is the truth.

And my eldest saying "Mum, I have eaten in lots of homes. Most people just prepare meals, you COOK."
Tempest "The Entertainer" Enjoying The Day - 15 years, 8 months, 20 days ago

This is my son's band, a montage from a bunch of gigs done by one of thier fans, and set to thier Demo tape. Chance is the tallest hairy one.Wearing the black shirt in the start of the clip. Its a montage of many, so the clothing changes.


Tempest "The Entertainer" Enjoying The Day - 15 years, 8 months, 28 days ago

This recipe comes from Ben ODonoghue's Grandmother, he claims that the Country Women's Association have been defending the secret of the pastry with sharpened knitting needles for decades! The pastry really is the hero in this "Pie" The secre is, of all things, custard powder. The resulting crumbling wonderfully coronary on a plate result is astonishingly good.

Hell, here goes.

3 cups plain (all purpose? flour)
1/3 cup custard powder
1 cup icing sugar
350 g of chilled unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
pinch of salt
Plus one lightly beaten egg to brush.

Place flour, custard powder, sugar, salt into processor and combine..(You know the drill) Add yolks, process till it comes together into a smooth ball. Remove, knead lightly, divide into two discs. It will be very very sticky, due to the fat content.

Chill in plastic wrap for an hr.

In this time, take a loose
kilo of granny smith apples, chopped into segments
Cup of sugar
two cloves
1 star anise,

pop in saucepan and simmer till apples are just soft. let cool.


Roll out the pastry between sheets of baking paper into two circles,about 3 mm thick. One large enough to mound the apples on (Minus the cloves etc) Drape the larger circle of pastry over the mounded apple, Oh, and leave the baking paper on the bottom layer.
Seal the top roughly, but thoroughly to the base, brush with beaten egg, bake at 180c for 30 mins, remove, sprinkle some caster sugar over the top, pop back in oven and bake again for another 10 mins.

Serve with cream, or ice cream. expect guests to pass out in delight.

Do you get what I am saying, about the pie? it's not done in a dish..It's almost like an upside down pie


Tempest "The Entertainer" Enjoying The Day - 15 years, 9 months, 5 days ago