Buffalo

I returned from skiing in Italy last month with a gorgeous fragrant bag of porcini ( a bad harvest left me very short of home dried ones last autumn ) as well as lots of other edible souvenirs. I have been itching to use some of them in something really deep and tasty - a stew inspired by the ragus I ate in Aosta seemed the perfect opportunity. I was lucky to have some lovely buffalo from Puddledub (www.puddledubbuffalo.co.uk). It's a lovely meat, more lean and flavoursome than beef, but can be cooked almost the same. Apparently it should be treated a little more gently than beef, mostly because if its' lack of fat, using a lower cooking temperature for less time, to get the best from it.

Buffalo Stew
Serves 3-4

500g stewing buffalo (or decent beef like shin)
cubed into 2cm pieces
25g pancetta, chopped, or lardons
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
handful of dried porcini, generous as you can afford to be, soaked in hot water
glass of red wine, about 150ml
Approx 250ml beef stock (a quality cube is fine)
sprig of rosemary
flour
oil
salt and pepper

Season a little flour with some salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Heat a generous glug of oil to a fairly hight heat in a sturdy pot. Lightly coat the meat cubes and fry in a couple of batches until browned in the oil, turning to do each side. Put aside, turn the heat down a little and add a little more oil and the pancetta, stirring for a minute or two, then the onion. Soften for a few minutes and ensure that any flour stuck to the pan doesn't burn. Add the garlic and the mushrooms which you should squeeze a little, reserving the liquid and roughly chop, then the red wine.

Bring it to the boil the add the mushroom soaking liquid (carefully to avoid any bits from the bottom!), the rosemary and enough stock to cover the meat. Ensure the stew comes up to the boil and then turn the heat down and cover. Cook over a very low heat so that it only just simmers - just a few bubbles should be gently rising - for about 1 1/2 hours, adding a little more stock of it's getting too thick or removing the lid to let it thicken for about the last 20 minutes if you want to reduce it a little. If you are using beef it will probably want half an hour or so longer. Check that the meat is really tender and the seasoning, I put in lots of pepper .

If you can't get the porcini add about 250g of chestnut mushrooms, quartered and fried in butter until browned, for the last half hour.

Serve, as shown, with polenta if you fancy something different, or mash and some greens. Oh, and the rest of the bottle of wine you had to open!

Thrift

After receiving stick for slacking, I decided it was about time I started blogging again! It may be a bit sporadic at the moment, but I'll try to keep with it.

When it comes to poultry I admit to being a leg girl! Roast a chicken and the first thing I'll tear off and chew from the bone is a leg - Artemis probably gets as much breast meat as I do. Duck breasts are a bit of a luxury, especially for those on a budget, but tasty feasts can be conjured up using the much cheaper legs.

I have a large bag of Szechuan peppercorns, begging to be used in my cupboard and some pak choi in the fridge so the duck legs were crying out for an aromatic oriental treatment. This is a fairly time consuming recipe, but can be done in two stages as the duck will keep for a few days after the braising. However, I would suggest it is done in one as I must say that the smells wafting around my flat as I made these were just magic!

Twice cooked duck legs

for 2

groundnut oil
2 duck legs
2 spring onions, sliced
1cm slice of root ginger
2 cloves garlic, sliced
3 star anise
heaped tsp Szechuan peppercorns
2 tbsp rice wine, or very dry sherry (fino is good)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 dsp coarse sea salt
1 dsp Szechuan peppercorns

pak choi
sesame seeds (toasted in a dry wok)
sesame oil
noodles

First braise the duck legs. Heat a tablespoon of groundnut oil in a heavy based saucepan and fry the spring onions ginger and garlic until soft. Add the star anise and peppercorns and fry until aromatic then the rice wine or sherry and soy sauce, a little salt, then some water, about 100 ml and bring to the boil. Add the duck legs, skin side down first, keeping the heat up high for a few minutes then turn them over and reduce the heat so that the liquid just simmers and cover with a lid. Simmer the duck legs for about an hour and fifteen minutes, turning them over after 45 minutes.
Allow them to cool for a while in the braising liquid, them remove to a bowl and allow the skin to dry for a bit (they can be cooked to this stage in advance and refrigerated). Skim the braising liquid as there will probably be quite a lot of duck fat floating on it, then reduce until it is concentrated, but don't allow it to become over salty with soy sauce.

Heat a heavy frying pan until hot and add the salt and the Szechuan peppercorns. Stir these until the peppercorns turn fragrant and the salt goes off white. Place in a pestle and mortar or grinder and grind to a fine consistency. Have I said already that I find doing stuff like this in a pestle and mortar very theraputic, but I know not everyone can be bothered?!

Cook some noodles by the instructions given. Heat about 1 1/2 cm groundnut oil in a frying pan. Fry the duck legs for about 4 minutes on each side, turning the heat down if the skin is getting too dark. Quarter the pak choi and steam them for about 4 minutes, or until the stems are tender, then drizzle with some sesame oil. Drain the noodles and toss them with some of the reduced braising liquid.

To serve, place some noodles on a plate, top with some pak choi and scatter with the toasted sesame seeds. Top with a crispy duck leg and a little more of the braising liquid. Take to the table and sprinkle the duck with some of the peppercorn salt, a little goes a long way - breathing deeply as the citrus pepper aromas rise. Gorgeous! This makes a nice starter portion, or small meal, without the noodles, as in the picture shown.