Braised Beef With Polenta Mash
| 5:01 AM |
Polenta was a new one for me. I’ve always seen the stuff being made on cooking shows but never tried it myself. It took a bit of supermarket hunting (and googling) to find it – international food section if you were wondering – but I’m glad I went to the effort. It’s much more exciting than plain old mashed spud and versatile too. I can’t wait to use it in other dishes now like polenta chips or polenta crusted zuchinni.
Braised Beef With Polenta Mash
Time: 45 minutes working time (with 3 or so hours for braising)
Serves: 4
Beef:
About 700grams of braising beef steak (depending on how many people you’re feeding)
1 onion, roughly diced
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
Vegetables: I used 3 carrots cut into rough chunks and a leek cut into smaller rings
1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 cup of red wine
2 sprigs rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
Polenta:
Start by cutting the beef into smaller steaks. Coat the steaks in flour then brown on each side in a hot pan. Remove from the pan and set aside in a casserole dish. In the same pan, brown off the onions and garlic before adding the carrots and leeks and stirring until they are on the ‘not raw’ side (about 5 or 10 minutes).
Add the beef stock, red wine, rosemary, salt and pepper, stir for a further 5 minutes then transfer to the same dish as the beef. Bang in the oven with a lid on at 160degrees for about 2 or 3 hours.
When the meat is looking tender and you are about 30minutes from serving start on the polenta. In a large saucepan bring the milk, water and salt to the boil. Then drop the heat and slowly (and I mean snails pace) add in the polenta, whisking constantly. It should start to get more and more solid until it comes away from the side of the saucepan. Continue to cook, stirring every few minutes for about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat then stir in the butter and a handful of Parmesan. Done.
For this kind of dish, the polenta is usually served as a gluggy smear on a large chopping board with the meat and gravy cradled in the centre but, as I had no such board, a large serving plate did well. This was enough for both dinner and lunch the next day for Chris and I, which is a winning recipe in my books.
The polenta was divine, I can’t wait to use it again. Such a weird texture and even weirder concept (pretty much flour and water??) but so yum especially with added butter and cheese. Lets be honest though what doesn’t taste good with butter and cheese.
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| Polenta |
Braised Beef With Polenta Mash
Time: 45 minutes working time (with 3 or so hours for braising)
Serves: 4
Beef:
About 700grams of braising beef steak (depending on how many people you’re feeding)
1 onion, roughly diced
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
Vegetables: I used 3 carrots cut into rough chunks and a leek cut into smaller rings
1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 cup of red wine
2 sprigs rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
Polenta:
Start by cutting the beef into smaller steaks. Coat the steaks in flour then brown on each side in a hot pan. Remove from the pan and set aside in a casserole dish. In the same pan, brown off the onions and garlic before adding the carrots and leeks and stirring until they are on the ‘not raw’ side (about 5 or 10 minutes).
Add the beef stock, red wine, rosemary, salt and pepper, stir for a further 5 minutes then transfer to the same dish as the beef. Bang in the oven with a lid on at 160degrees for about 2 or 3 hours.
When the meat is looking tender and you are about 30minutes from serving start on the polenta. In a large saucepan bring the milk, water and salt to the boil. Then drop the heat and slowly (and I mean snails pace) add in the polenta, whisking constantly. It should start to get more and more solid until it comes away from the side of the saucepan. Continue to cook, stirring every few minutes for about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat then stir in the butter and a handful of Parmesan. Done.
For this kind of dish, the polenta is usually served as a gluggy smear on a large chopping board with the meat and gravy cradled in the centre but, as I had no such board, a large serving plate did well. This was enough for both dinner and lunch the next day for Chris and I, which is a winning recipe in my books.
The polenta was divine, I can’t wait to use it again. Such a weird texture and even weirder concept (pretty much flour and water??) but so yum especially with added butter and cheese. Lets be honest though what doesn’t taste good with butter and cheese.
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