Stock making

Early shifts coming up and as Autumn is here, I am making a few long slow cooked dishes. I intend to braise boneless best end of neck tomorrow and a brisket Thursday, both of which will require a good rich stock and some red wine for depth.
Helen says it is almost like a meal in itself and would be good just with some nice bread.
Having been asked how I make my stock by a very nice facebook friend I thought it best to blog it in stages.

First then,
I have roasted some beef and lamb bones. The roasting adds depth of flavour.
This is all about building layers of flavour It will bring depth to the completed dish as well as complement the meat and give a very satisfying finish.

While the Bones are roasting, I prepare some trimmings from the veggies for the dinner.

In this instance some parsnips, a couple of carrots, celery, onions, brocoli stalks and leek stems.

What I often do and will also be doing here is, when we have veg during the week, freeze the trimmings to add to the next batch of stock I make.

This also works with meat trimmings, parts of chicken carcasses etc.

And of course the stock, besides keeping for 3 days in the fridge will freeze and keep also.

So,

the bones are roasted up and the veggie trimmings are ready, now we pop them into a big pot and boil them down. The idea is to get them simmering then reduce the heat to a very low bubble, barely turning over.

Of course I will use the fat and juice from the bones here to colour the parsnips, carrots and onions before adding about 6 litres of water ( however we will be topping the water up a little before we reduce the whole thing down ) I also ran some boiling water over the roasting  pan, thn poured that in too so we dont lose any little bits of flavour.

Then some salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce and bayleaves go in and we simmer.

As an aside here, When  listening to or reading about cooking you might hear the term "mirepoix" this refers to the basis for a lot of french and Italian dishes and is a a chopped mixture of chopped onions, celery and carrots and is not too indistinct from the cajun and " holy trinity of Celery onions and peppers. So part of the basis of the stock here comprises these ( although personally I hate celery )

While this is boiling down, I will tell you that the bones make a very handy trivet to keep the meat from burning on the bottom of the roasting tray and the dog gets the stray bits of meat left from the boiling process. So there's no waste.

When the liquid has reduced by about a third I will top it up with some warm water from the kettle, then reduce it again and leave it bubbling for a bit longer. I will strain it after 3 hours or so ( keeping an eye on it ) then strain it off.

Normally I would leave it to stand overnight usually though not time this time because of time constraints. then reduce it some more down to 3 litres then add a third of a bottle of good red wine and reduce it further.

So we have strained the chunks out ( above ) the liquid went from the bowl it was in, through the fine strainer and muslin ( cheesecloth ) into the wiped clean pan, added the wine and some more water and simmered again.

This will be reduced down by half then allowed to cool in order to skim the fat off the top then use.

so far then it looks like this

So this is a basic stock base, you can use it as I intend to for slow braising ( as in a pot roast) you can make any of the 2 late stages of roux ; 1st being blond roux, fat usually butter)  and flour, with milk. Second stage sandy ( fawn roux) with meat fat flour and juice,

or dark roux 3rd stage using browned flour and dark stock. Espagnole sauce is a good example of use for this.

Enjoy.

Barbeque ribs

Barbeque ribs.

I marinated a

Some nice meaty ribs in my favourite barbeque sauce, Stubbs. Its made in texas, and if your'e reading this rocky I'd still like that shirt.

Anyway, I marinated them for 2 days so the flavour really penetrated the meat.

Then slow roasted them on a very low oven for 3 hours than basted them with more sauce.

  Uncovered them and turned the heat up a touch to get a nice bark and viola. 

Served them with a bowl of the cooking sauce to dip them in.

Delicious, just needed a baguette.

Risotto

Chicken and Asparagus Risotto.

A bit behind due to various work constraints but last night we had this for tea.

Poached the Woody asparagus stems for stock, then lightly poach the tips and reserve for decoration later.

Then cook the spears until soft then chop them up very fine

Had some finely chopped onion

chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces.

 In a half and half mixture of butter and olive oil, fry these until the onions are  opaque and the chicken lightly coloured. Don't have the heat too high!

When these are ready take them out and reserve.

Put a good dollop of butter ( or 50 / 50 butter and oil ) in the pan ( I use the wok ) and Melt, then put the rice in. Arborio for preference

Toast this for a few minutes, then start adding the stock ladle at a time, again keep the heat quite low.

stir frequently but not too vigorously, after about 10 minutes add the chicken and onion mixture with some chopped Italian herbs, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper. Keep adding the stock and stirring, this will take about 20 minutes during which time you add the sliced mushrooms and chopped asparagus spears. Then add the sweetcorn, keep stirring and after 10 minutes add the asparagus tips. Taste and check seasoning then adjust accordingly. Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice has lost it's nutty texture. Stir in a small amount of butter and continue stirring for five minutes.

When it has a creamy texture and no too moist, serve.

I like to eat mine with some encona hot pepper sauce but that's just me.

Venison in a red wine jus

For tea tonight I cooked a lovely venison steak and prepared a red wine jus separately, serving it with mushrooms, potatoes and assorted vegetables.

The venison was a shoulder steak that I fried in butter and olive oil.

The ingredients for the jus were: 

• A red wine from bordeux
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Balsamic vinegar
• Brandy
• Cream
• Italian Herbs
• Oregano
• Worcestershire Sauce

I started by softening the onions and then added the mushrooms,

I then seasoned with salt and pepper, putting in the Italian herbs,

oregano, Worcestershire sauce and wine. I reduced the sauce over a medium heat, stirring frequently over the course of 5-10 minutes. When the jus was reduced I added a dash of brandy, the cream and some juice from the venison.

I served the meat with broad beans, runner beans, boiled jersey potatoes and carrots.

Moules mariniere

This dish took 30 minutes to prepare and cook in total and was enjoyed with crusty baguette during a break whilst fixing the guttering.

Ingredients:

• 1kg of fresh mussels 
• 1/2 of a small onion
• 2 cloves of fresh garlic
• A handful of chopped parsley
• 150ml (I think) of white wine 
• A small knob of butter
• A tablespoon of cream
• Salt & pepper to taste

First I cleaned and prepared the mussels, removing the beard and any extraneous substances from the shells. After cleaning the mussels I went on to finely chop up the onions and garlic which are softened in some butter, I then added a dash of wine and then the mussels & parsley, then seasoned. 

I added the rest of the wine to the mix, covered it and allowed it to steam in its own juices. 

The mussels cooked for 4-5 minutes on a low heat. When the mussels had all opened I strained them and reduced the liquor then whisked in another knob of butter and the cream then served.

Here is the finished dish:

Shavua Tov

Shavua Tov ( שָׁבוּעַ טוֹב )
Pentecost is here  and I haven't blogged for a long time.
So busy with work and the dog settling in.
More changes afoot but The Lord is good.
No pictures or videos to share just now.
Had a very nice curry at the local Indian restaurant. Bombay in Grays, if you are this way I recommend it the service and food are excellent. Celebrating one of the guys 70th birthday.
reminds me of the advance of time.
Shavua Tov.

Hot Dogs with pepperonata & Chipotle mayonnaise

For a quick and easy lunch whilst in the midst of roof-painting I prepared a simple yet delicious snack of hot dogs with peppers, onions and a homemade chipotle mayonnaise. 

First I softened the onions and peppers with a dash of olive oil in a small skillet.

After putting on the (red) onions and peppers I began mixing a blend of smoky Chipotle sauce and mayonnaise. 

I fried the frankfurters in the same pan that was used to sautee the vegetables to give them more flavour. 

After 3-4 minutes of frying the hot dogs were done and I assembled the finished product on a small plate.