Recipe

This morning I am doing nothing, and this afternoon is taken up with appointments with the dentist and hygienist (joy) and the nurse practitioner at the GP surgery for a respiratory review.

None of that is worth a blog, so here is another recipe.

Remember I bought shin of beef at the farmers' market? Well last week I took it out of the freezer and defrosted it. Here is my recipe:

SHIN OF BEEF

500g/1 lb2 oz shin of beef
1 litre/ 33 fl.oz of beef stock
2 medium onions
1 red pepper
225g/8oz mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
Red wine (glass or so)
15 ml/1 Tbsp flour
30 ml/2 Tbsp oil

Trim the shin of outside fat and fascia and cut it into bite size squares.
Toss the meat in the flour (I use a polythene food bag to do this).
Chop the onions, garlic, pepper and mushrooms into small pieces.
Heat the oil in a heavy frying or sauté pan and add the onions, peppers and garlic.
Sauté gently to soften.
Add the coated meat and carry on sautéing until the meat is browned.
Add the stock and red wine (to taste).
Add the mushrooms
Leave to simmer in sauté pan on a low heat for a good 3 hours, until tender.

In the absence of a sauté pan, transfer to a lidded casserole and cook at 190 for ½ hour then at 170 for 3 hours.

This should melt in the mouth.

(I always use the wine I shall drink with the meal – there is no such thing as a “cooking wine” in this household, unless it is the end of the day before’s bottle! and in fact I think I used only a glass of wine as that was what was left at the time.)

I divided this into 6 portions to freeze it, but if you have hungry folk in your household it may serve only 4.