Posts in: 'Main Course'
Build a better burger!
Posted: 02 April '10 by Niall
Homemade beef-burgers with onion relish
There are times when only a juicy, meaty beef burger will do..
This is a slightly more upmarket take on the basic burger though, with a zingy onion relish and wholegrain mustard mayonnaise.
I saw Oliver Dunne’s recipe on RTE’s “The Afternoon Show” and, apart from a few minor additions, thought that it was pretty close to perfection.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7Image 8Image 9
Ingredients
The burgers
- 500g Lean mince
- 2 slices of granary bread (made into breadcrumbs)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1/2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 splash Worcestershire sauce
- Few drops of Tabasco
- Salt and pepper to taste
- A glug of olive oil
- 1 tsp of thyme leaves
The Onion Relish
- 2 red onions, finely cut into long slices
- 50g butter
- 1 tablespoon Demerara sugar
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
The Wholegrain Mustard
- A few spoonfuls of mayonnaise
- 1 tsp of wholegrain mustard
To serve
- 4 soft Burger baps
- 1 ripe beef tomato
- 4 slices of Monterey Jack cheddar cheese
- 1 red onion, finely sliced into rings
- 1 head Baby gem lettuce
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C
- To make the burger quickly fry the chopped red onion and the garlic in some olive oil for 1-2mins until translucent.
- Add to the rest of the burger ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Shape into even size patties and allow to set in the fridge for about an hour.
- Add a small amount of olive oil to a frying pan and brown your burgers on both sides for 3-4 minutes.
- Place the partially cooked burgers on an oven tray and place in the oven as you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Sweat the sliced onions on a low heat until they become soft and translucent.
- Add the sugar and balsamic and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated and you’re left with a thick, sticky relish.
- Place your mayonnaise in a bowl and add the wholegrain mustard, mixing thoroughly.
- Place a slice of Monterey Jack cheese on top of each burger and return to the heat of the oven.
- Toast the burger buns and remove the fully cooked burgers from the oven.
- Finally, assemble your burger!
Enjoy!
Other information
If it helps speed things up, you can make the patties the day before and leave them in the fridge overnight, ready to be cooked when you come home from work.
Categories: Beef > Featured Post > Main Course > Recipes
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Broccoli & Pasta Bake
Posted: 23 March '10 by Ciara
Broccoli and Pasta Bake
This is a great crowd-pleasing dish in our house. You can make it as a vegetarian dish or alternatively add bacon, pancetta or chicken.
It’s also quite quick and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 400g Penne Pasta
- 1 red onion
- 250g Broccoli florets
- 2 chicken/vegetable stock cubes
- 1 tablespoon of french mustard
- 200g creme fraiche
- 100g gruyere cheese
- 1 tablespoon of parsley
- 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs
- 50g parmesan cheese
Method
- Heat the grill.
- Boil pasta and chopped onion in salted boiling water for 7 minutes then add florets and boil for a further 3 minutes.
- Reserve 400mls of water, then drain pasta and vegetables.
- Return reserved water to the pan and dissolve vegetable/chicken stock cubes. Whisk in mustard and creme fraiche and season to taste.
- Add pasta, vegetables, gruyere cheese and parsley to the stock, mustard and creme fraiche mixture. Stir until melted.
- Tip pasta and vegetables into ovenproof dish.
- Mix the parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and mixed herbs together, then scatter on top of the pasta and vegetables.
- Place under the grill for 3 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
Categories: Featured Post > Main Course > Pasta > Recipes
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Tagliatelle with Bolognese Ragu
Posted: 08 March '10 by Niall
Tagliatelle with Bolognese Ragu
Last weekend I thought I’d make one of my favourite dishes, Bolognese.. A really simple meal that has a million and one recipes for it.
This is the best recipe for Bolognese that I know of and it produces a very tasty, authentic Italian meal. You’ll be surprised by a few of the ingredients – minced pork for instance, and milk too – and by the absence of garlic. The dish is delicious though, and much more flavoursome than the basic spag bol I would make during the week.
One of the most important things to remember is that a lot of Italian dishes start with the same three ingredients: celery, onion, and carrot. I think that the carrot gives a slight sweetness to the dish but, other than this, you won’t notice any discernible flavour from the basic ingredients – they just help to make a more robust and mouth-watering sauce.
The recipe also calls for Tagliatelle rather than Spaghetti. Depending on where you are in Italy, this is either complete blasphemy or the proper way to make Bolognese. For me, I have to say that I prefer the Tagliatelle – it feels much more authentic as it lends itself to the “mix the sauce through the pasta” approach and holds more of the sauce than Spaghetti would.
Making Bolognese Ragu really is a weekend job though as it takes over three hours to cook – but it’s worth every minute.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 400g minced beef
- 400g minced pork
- 100g pancetta, roughly chopped
- 100g onion, finely chopped
- 100g carrot, finely chopped
- 100g celery, finely chopped
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 1 glass of dry white wine
- 500ml fresh milk
- 200ml of chicken stock
- 3 bay leaves
- Pepper and salt
- 500g Tagliatelle
Method:
- Place the pancetta in a large, deep saucepan with some olive oil on a low heat until the fat has melted and the pancetta has a nice golden colour.
- Add the onion, stirring until the onion is translucent.
- Add the carrot and celery and the bay leaves and keep cooking until the vegetables start to soften and get some colour.
- Place the minced meat in a bowl and add some seasoning. Mix the meat together with your hands.
- Increase the heat to just above medium and add the minced meat. Keep cooking and stirring the mixture until the meat has browned.
- Pour in the white wine and stir through the mixture, cooking the ingredients until the wine has evaporated.
- Reduce the heat and add the chopped tomatoes, mixing them through the meat.
- Leave the mixture on the heat for at least 2 hours. Check your sauce regularly during this time – if the tomatoes reduce too much just add some beef stock. By the end of the two hours you should have an intense, thick tomato sauce.
- Now, add the milk and some chicken stock, stirring them through your sauce. Leave this mixture over a low heat for another hour.
- Remove the sauce from the heat, season to taste, and leave to rest.
- In a separate saucepan, add some water and a good pinch of salt and bring to the boil.
- Add your tagliatelle and cook until the pasta has softened.
- Drain your pasta and add several spoonfuls of your Bolognese Ragu, mixing the sauce through the pasta.
- Serve with some grated parmesan.
Enjoy!
Categories: Beef > Featured Post > Italian Food > Main Course > Recipes
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Pasta al forno with tomatoes and mozzarella
Posted: 29 January '10 by Niall
Pasta al forno
Pasta al forno means “pasta from the oven” and is a popular dish in Italy.
The method for making Pasta al forno is fairly simple and similar to those for lasange but you’ll see that it is much easier to make and needs far less cooking time.
This recipe for making this Pasta al Form con Pomodorino e Mozzarella is taken from “Jamie Oliver’s Italy” – although his was made with “orecchiette” pasta (“little ears”), we found this type fairly difficult to come by at last minutes’ notice, so we made ours with “conchiglie”, which resemble small sea-shells.
There’s a real rustic feel to this dish and it’s surprising hearty. I think it’s important to get the best mozzarella that you can lay your hands on – the “Taste the Difference” mozza that we tried was worth the extra cost and was a tasty, chewy treat amongst the tomato and pasta.
We served ours with a small rocket salad and home-made garlic bread made with ciabatta – delicious!
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 500g of conchiglie pasta
- 8 fresh, large pomodorino tomatoes
- Some tomato puree
- 3 balls of mozzarella, sliced
- A wedge of parmesan, grated
- A handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
- Salt and pepper for taste
You also need a large bowl and a kettle full of hot water.
Method
- Cook the conchiglie in a large saucepan of salted water and drain thoroughly when done.
- Place a large saucepan over a low heat, add some olive oil, and add the garlic and onions, sweating them until they are soft and translucent.
- Half-fill the large bowl with the boiling water and add the tomatoes for a couple of minutes.
- Remove the tomatoes one at a time and run a finger firmly down the flesh – you should notice that the skin peels away easily. Remove all of the skin and set the tomatoes aside.
- When all of the tomatoes have been peeled squeeze them into the onion and garlic mixture, adding the soft flesh but disgarding the woody core.
- Reduce the tomato mixture and fully soften the tomato pieces.
- Squeeze some tomato puree into the tomato mixture and stir thoroughly.
- Add salt, pepper and fresh basil and remove from the heat.
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Empty the sauce into the drained pasta and mix thoroughly.
- Place some of the pasta into a casserole dish to form a layer of pasta that reaches half-way up the sides.
- Take some of your mozzarella and lay them on top of the pasta to form another layer.
- Place the rest of the pasta on top of this again.
- Complete the dish by laying the remaining mozzarella on top of the pasta, grating a good amount of parmesan on top of this again, and drizzling the top with good olive oil.
- Place the casserole dish in the oven and cook until the top has formed a golden crust.
- Once you’ve spooned out the portions grate a little more parmesan over the top (can you ever have enough?) and drizzle with olive oil.
Enjoy!
Categories: Featured Post > Italian Food > Main Course > Pasta > Recipes
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Comforting beef casserole with mashed potatoes
Posted: 22 January '10 by Ciara
I am really excited about this new recipe. I tried it for the first time this evening and we all loved it. It is packed with flavour and was the perfect thing to eat on a cold snowy evening. Sophie has been quite run down recently, so i am a bit paranoid that she should be getting as much goodness into her as possible, and i was delighted that she loved this.
Please note that I cut my vegetables quite small and also the carrots were grated quite finely too as Sophie doesn’t really like a lot of lumps in her food, so feel free to cut up your veggies to your own liking.
The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s “Nigella Feasts” programme.
Serves 5
You can see more photos here.
Ingredients
Ingredients: Beef Casserole
- 3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots sliced or grated
- 2 celery stalks sliced thinly or 1 inch thick
- 3 cloves of garlic grated
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2lbs of beef fillet stewing meat
- 1/4 cup flour
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 cup red wine or beef stock (i obviously used beef stock for Sophie)
- 1 large can whole plum tomatoes (i also blend these for Cor, who hates lumps of tomatoes in his food)
- peel of half an orange
Ingredients: Mashed Potatoes
- 6 maris piper potatoes
- 4 knobs of butter
- 30ml full fat milk
Method
Method: Beef Casserole
- Heat oil and over a medium heat fry onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves and thyme for 5-10 minutes until onion turns translucent. Remove veggies to a bowl leaving as much oil in the pot as you can.
- Meanwhile, place flour and salt and pepper in a plastic bag along with meat. Shake until meat is coated. Place into the pot which you have just removed veggies from and cook until pieces are well browned.
- When this is done add the wine or beef stock then add veggies, tomatoes and orange peel.
- Bring to a simmer and then reduce to a low and cook for 3 hours. Remove bay leaves, thyme sprigs and orange peel and serve with mashed potatoes.
Method: Mashed potatoes
- Boil potatoes for 20-25 minutes
- Drain and mash
- Meanwhile heat butter and milk together
- Add slowly to potatoes continuously mashing
Enjoy!
Categories: Beef > English Food > Featured Post > Main Course > Recipes
