Michelin star chef Michael Smith, of The Loch Bay Restaurant, creates a rich and warming stew and a sweet, seasonal pudding.
Shin of beef is a wonderfully cheap cut of beef which, when cooked slowly, packs a real punch when it comes to flavour. Ask your butcher to bone and trim the meat for you, keeping the bone for the recipe.
Serve this stew with creamy mashed potato or pasta with some seasonal green vegetables for a delicious, hearty supper.
Another favourite ingredient of mine is early spring rhubarb which has a sweet, delicate taste. Roasted rhubarb goes really well with buttermilk puddings which are easy to make and have a lovely creamy but sharp taste, a little like yoghurt, which makes for a perfect pairing with the seasonal rhubarb.
Braised Shin of Beef
SERVES 4
Rapeseed oil
2 red onions peeled and roughly chopped
3 carrots peeled and roughly chopped
3 sticks celery trimmed and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic unpeeled
A few sprigs fresh Rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 small handful dried ceps (optional)
1 stick cinnamon
1 kg quality shin of beef, bone removed, trimmed and cut into 5cm pieces (keep the bone)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon flour
2 x 400g good-quality tinned plum tomatoes
Two thirds of a bottle of red wine
Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. In a heavy bottomed ovenproof saucepan, heat a splash of rapeseed oil and gently fry the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, herbs, ceps and cinnamon for five minutes until softened slightly.
Meanwhile, toss the pieces of beef in a little seasoned flour, shaking off any excess. Add the meat to the pan along with the bone and stir everything together, then add the tomatoes, wine and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Gently bring to the boil, cover with a double-thickness piece of tinfoil and a lid and place in your preheated oven for three hours or until the beef is meltingly tender and can be broken up with a spoon.
Taste and check the seasoning. Remove the bone, cinnamon stick and rosemary sprigs and serve.
Buttermilk Pudding with Rhubarb
SERVES 10
600ml buttermilk
200ml single cream, whipped
200ml double cream
250g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split
1 orange, 4 strips peel
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water
550g rhubarb
85g golden caster sugar
1 star anise
Split the vanilla pod and set aside the seeds. Bring the sugar, double cream and orange peel to the boil in pan along with the vanilla pod and seeds. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the lemon juice with the softened gelatine. Gently whisk until dissolved and strain into a bowl.
Add buttermilk into another mixing bowl, then whisk gradually into the cream mixture whilst hot. Leave the buttermilk and cream to cool down before gently folding in the whipped cream. Pour the mixture into 10 dariole moulds or ramekins and refrigerate overnight.
For the rhubarb: Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Rinse the rhubarb and shake off the excess water. Trim the ends and cut the rhubarb into little finger-sized pieces. Put the rhubarb in a shallow dish or baking sheet with sides, tip the sugar over, toss together, then shuffle the rhubarb so it’s in a single layer.
Cover with foil and roast for 15 mins. Remove the foil. The sugar should have dissolved, so give everything a little shake and roast for another five mins or until tender and the juices are syrupy. Test with a sharp knife; the rhubarb should feel tender, not mushy, and still have kept its shape.
To serve: Dip the base of each dariole into hot water then run around the rim of each pudding with a sharp knife to release the pudding, giving each one a little shake into a bowl. Serve the cooked rhubarb along side the puddings.
The Loch Bay Restaurant is based in Stein on the scenic north west Waternish peninsula on the Isle of Skye. Contact 01470 592235 or visit www.lochbay-restaurant.co.uk