Autumn has arrived, which makes it the perfect season to enjoy Jacob’s Ladder, also known as short rib of beef.
This is a wonderfully flavoursome, hearty and cheap cut which makes for a comforting and easy supper as the nights get shorter (pardon the pun).
As it’s a lesser-known cut, my advice would be to head for your local butchers and ask them to source it for you.
Ideally, this is a recipe to stick in the oven last thing at night as it requires slow cooking for approximately 8-10 hours to gain the best results. For an easy start to your Sunday, pop it in the oven on a Saturday night and you’ll have the perfect roast for Sunday lunch.
And is there anything better than home-made profiteroles to follow? The recipe here will make around 20 golf ball-sized profiteroles. The fudge sauce will keep in the fridge in a sealed jar for two weeks and is also great served hot with ice-cream. Just heat in the microwave for one minute.
To make an extra delicious filling for the proiteroles, whisk some double cream until thick then fold in some of the cold fudge sauce before filling the mini choux buns.
Slow Cooked Short Rib of Beef with Syboe Mash
SERVES 4-6
The ingredients
- 1 Jacob’s Ladder (ask your butcher)
- Rapeseed oil
- Sea salt
The method
- Place the beef into a roasting tin and drizzle over some rapeseed oil then season generously with sea salt.
- Cover the tin with foil (shiny side down) and place in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for 40 minutes. Now turn the oven down to 110°C and cook for a further 8-10 hours.
- Once cooked and then cooled, the bones should come free from the meat and the joint can be cut into portions easily to then be kept aside and reheated with the gravy.
Red Wine Gravy
The ingredients
- 200ml red wine
- 100ml beef stock
The method
- Combine, boil and reduce by about two thirds until it has a gravy like consistency.
Syboe Mash
The ingredients
- 200g mashed potato, hot (Maris Piper potatoes are great for mash)
- 3 spring onions, finely shredded
- 50ml double cream
- Knob of butter
The method
- Add the cream, butter and onions together in a pan and bring to a boil then simmer for one minute.
- Mix immediately into the mash and serve.
Profiteroles with Chocolate Fudge Sauce
MAKES 20
The ingredients
- 125ml milk
- 125ml water
- 5g salt
- 10g caster sugar
- 112g unsalted butter
- 137g plain flour
- 4 medium eggs
The method
- Bring the milk, water, salt, sugar and butter to the boil, ensuring that the butter melts before the mix starts to bubble.
- Now tip in all the flour and whisk in well before beating the mix with a wooden spoon while cooking it over a medium-high heat until the flour is cooked out (about 10 minutes).
- Preheat the oven, ideally to 250°C – domestic ovens might not go that high, so just whack it to the highest setting.
- Transfer the mixture to a stand-up mixer, such as a KitchenAid with a paddle attachment, and beat, releasing the steam, until it has cooled.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, until the mix is smooth and shiny. Using a piping bag with a plain nozzle attachment, pipe the paste into 2cm balls.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature of the oven to 185°C and cook for another 20 minutes.
- Remove the profiteroles from the oven and reduce the heat to 70°C.
- With a needle or similar, pierce a hole in the bottom of each to release some of the steam, then return to the low oven and cook for a further 10 minutes.
- Remove and set aside to cool.
Chocolate Fudge Sauce
The ingredients
- 15g butter
- 22g golden syrup
- 75ml milk
- 150ml double cream
- 120g soft brown sugar
- Half a vanilla pod (optional)
- 90g best dark chocolate
The method
- Add all the ingredients except the chocolate into a pan and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for one minute.
- Remove and cool. Once cooked, stir in the dark chocolate until melted and shiny.
Michelin-star chef Michael Smith runs the Loch Bay Restaurant in Stein, Waternish on the Isle of Skye. Visit www.lochbay-restaurant.co.uk