Slow: Food Worth Taking Time Over

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

2 leeks, trimmed and finely chopped

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

400g pork mince

400g veal mince

200g piece of smoked bacon or pancetta, skinned, trimmed, chopped and minced in a food processor

3–4 bay leaves

3 sprigs of rosemary

few sprigs of thyme

400ml dry white wine

1 pint whole milk

1 pint fresh chicken stock

300ml double cream

zest of 2 lemons

leaves of ½ small bunch of sage

½ nutmeg, grated

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Parmesan, to serve

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large flameproof casserole. Add the onions, carrots, leeks, celery and garlic and cook over a very low heat for about 30 minutes, or until they have softened, lost all their water and are tinged with a golden hue.

Meanwhile heat a frying pan until very hot, add the rest of the oil and brown the pork and veal mince together with the bacon or pancetta in batches. Transfer the meat and any juices to the casserole. Add the bay leaves, rosemary and thyme and then pour over the white wine. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes, then pour over the milk and stock. When the liquid comes to the boil, lower the heat and partially cover the casserole with a lid. Cook gently for 2 hours.

The sauce is ready when the meat is cooked and the sauce reduced and super-rich. At this point pour over the cream and add the lemon zest, sage leaves and nutmeg and give everything a good stir. Let this cook for a further 5 minutes to reduce a little and take on these last flavours. In the meantime cook your pasta. Season the sauce and then pour a couple of ladlefuls over each portion of pasta and serve with Parmesan and lots of black pepper.

Beef & Potato Stew (#ulink_ba5f5daa-407c-5c16-990e-ea29cdd9786d)

When making a stew, I always favour ox cheek, oxtail or featherblade because they cook into juicy, falling-apart meat and a mouth-sticking braise, which is what makes them so perfect for dishes like this one.

When cooking simple dishes like this, it’s important to remember that the quality of ingredients is key. Always use fresh stock, rather than a cube – the flavour and consistency of the stew just won’t be the same without. If you don’t have time to make your own, you can find fresh stock in the chiller cabinet of most supermarkets – I think Truefoods or Waitrose stocks are the best and I have a freezer full of them.

I always serve this stew with mash (when I said this on social media I was told I was insane, although you will be hard pushed to convince me that double potato is ever a bad thing), but you can also serve with buttered crusty white bread if you prefer!

SERVES 4

Preparation time 25 minutes

Cooking time 3 hours 10 minutes

olive or rapeseed oil or ghee, for frying

2 ox cheeks (roughly 900g), each cut into 6 pieces

10 small onions or shallots, peeled but left whole

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs of rosemary

few sprigs of thyme

2 carrots, halved lengthways and cut into 6cm pieces

1 tbsp plain flour

500ml fresh beef stock

1 leek, cut into 4 long sections

400g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

handful of parsley, chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

First, get a frying pan really hot and put in 1 tablespoon of your chosen fat. Season the ox cheek pieces well with salt and pepper and brown them in batches. Remove them from the pan once nicely caramelised and set aside.

In a heavy-based casserole, heat another couple of tablespoons of fat and throw in the onions and the bay leaf, rosemary and thyme. Allow to cook for 5 minutes over a higher heat than normal, until the onions start to soften and caramelise a little at the edges. Next add the carrots and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring regularly.

Stir in the flour and allow to cook for a couple of minutes. Add the stock and the leeks, followed by the ox cheeks and their residual juices. If necessary top up the casserole with water so that everything is just covered with liquid. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover with a lid.

Allow the stew to cook gently for 2 hours 30 minutes. After this time, add the potatoes to the stew, stir gently, replace the lid and cook for a further 40 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through and the meat gives way when pushed. Check the seasoning and stir in the parsley. Turn off the heat and leave the stew to rest with the lid on for 10 minutes before serving with crusty bread and butter – or double up your potatoes and serve with creamy mash.

Ox Cheeks Stewed with Wine & Beer (#ulink_424a90b7-1e0b-5bcc-8074-eebdffa3c24a)

This dish started as a boeuf bourguignon but has evolved into something a bit different. Simply, boeuf bourguignon is a beef and red wine stew. Purists believe that it should be made with a whole bottle of wine, use no stock and that the stewing veg should remain in the sauce. Needless to say, it’s delicious like this, but I’ve refined it by adding ox cheeks, which contain a mammoth amount of tooth-sucking gelatine and make for sticky, soft, falling-apart meat and a glossy sauce. I also add stock (for an even glossier and stickier sauce) and use a heady mix of wine, beer and spices to really bring it to life. I strain out the veg and I’ve ditched the classic bourguignon accompaniments as this is now a new dish with its own identity.

A note about the wine: Burgundy is famous for being home to some of the best vineyards and wines in the world. I love a glass of red wine and if I have the dosh always go for a good Burgundy over any other. I find Burgundy wines much lighter and more refined in flavour than other red wines.

SERVES 4