Slow cooked satay miso beef

This is a slight variation of satay using miso paste, only a few ingredients in this too which is great! You can get miso paste in the asian section at the supermarket, you can also use it for miso soup, dressings and marinades, thanks to the glutamates it gives a nice umami flavor which is kinda savory/meaty feel to it








Slow cooked satay miso beef
Ingredients
1 kg chuck steak, cut into 6 even chunks
1 large brown onion, chopped
1 x 270ml can coconut cream
½ cup of peanut butter or other nut butter
Miso paste to taste. I used 2 tbsp in mine


Method
Mix your coconut cream and nut butter together, add a cans worth of water or broth and then add your miso paste, taste and add more as required.
Add this, your meat and onion to your slow cooker, low on low for the day.
I served this with rice and a stir fry of baby corn, green beans, cauliflower and snow peas.

Slow cooked creamy mustard beef pie (spelt flakey pastry)

This can be a stand alone dish with the pastry as I was originally going to have it as. I was watching Masterchef the other night and they had a pie challenge. So I thought I would have a go at making my own pastry and so I ended up just topping the pie with pasty but didn't use pastry as the base.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 kg piece of beef chuck steak, cut into 8, I only put this on at lunch time, took 5 hours on high.

2 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp wholegrain mustard

300ml pure cream

5 cloves garlic, rough chop

2 red onions, rough chop

¼ cup of sherry or brandy (opt)

Method

You can either brown the beef, then add the garlic, onion and sherry (if using), reduce it a little and then add the mustards and cream, heat and add it all to the slow cooker or

Put in the slow cooker on low for the day. Take the meat out at the end and pour the liquid out into a pot and reduce all the liquid until nice and thick. Put the beef back in the slow cooker to keep warm while the liquid is reducing. Serve up wit steamed veg and pasta/rice/mash etc or use to make a pie

If you are using this for a pie filling mix

-the sauce and beef need to be used cold.

Chop the cooked beef into smaller pieces. At the end of cooking when you have reduced the cream and some cornflour with water and add a little at a time to the cream until it is really thick. Add to the chopped beef and leave to cool before using.

To make the pies 

1/2 the recipe below will make enough for 6 pastry circles or one big one- you might have a little leftover.

You can either fill ramekin dishes  with the beef and top with pastry using the ramekin as your guide

or you can use an big oven proof dish and top with pastry

Brush the pastry with milk or egg wash and you can sprinkle with poppy seeds, black sesame seeds or what have you.

To pastry needs to be rolled out thin to about 3mm and baked at 180 c fan forced or 200c normal for 25-30 minutes.

You can save leftover pastry put wrapping it and putting in the fridge to use within the week or store in the freezer.

Spelt flakey pastry

Makes 600g pastry

Ingredients

250g spelt flour

180g cold butter-diced small

70g cold butter-divide into 5 portions and then slice the butter in each portion-keep this in the fridge until needed.

½ tsp salt

Method

In a bowl put in your flour and the 180g cold diced butter and squash the flour and butter in-between your fingers, you can keep plenty of lumps in there. Then add 1 tbsp of very cold water (with ice) Using a bread knife mix in, add another tbsp of the water and mix, add enough water until you can press the dough together. Then put onto a floured bench, sprinkle over some flour as needed on the dough, knead until it just comes together and then roll out to about half an A4 paper (1/2 a printer paper size). The length needs to be a little bit longer though.

Over the top of your dough take 1/5 of your 70g cold butter and dot over. Then roll up your dough , and roll out to the half an A4 size again. Dot another 1/5 of the butter over the dough and roll up. Continue with this until all the butter is used. Then you can wrap and put in the fridge until needed. Have it in the fridge at least 30 minutes before you use it.

This is the video I watched to show you how to do it if my instructions are confusing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6mx254Zg44

Singapore style beef stiry fry with konjac noodles (slim pasta)

Serves 4

Ingredients

400g beef, sliced as thin as you can. If you put it in the freezer for half an hour it makes it easier to slice thinly

900g veg of your choice, I have used 300g each of red capsicum, bok choy and snow peas.

1-2 tbsp of Asian curry powder

1-2 tbsp of tamari of light soy sauce

1 (340g) packet of slim pasta, drained

1 tbsp tapioca flour (this is optional, I like to toss the beef through the flour, the meat ends up more juicy and tender)

Method

Toss beef through the flour if you are doing it this way.

In a hot wok put 1 tbsp ghee/coconut oil and stir-fry your beef for 1 minute. Take the beef out and set aside. Heat a little more oil in your wok and add your capsicum and snow peas, stir fry for 1-2 min then add your boy choy and your beef. Add your tamari, curry powder and drained noodles.  Toss through for a few seconds to heat through the noodles.

Beef Liver Pate

                  1/2 kg beef liver, sliced into 1 cm slices

 1 brown onion, diced

50g butter

 1 clove garlic, crushed

 50 ml brandy

 50 ml cream- this is to loosen the mix so it’s not so thick- you could add more or leave it out completely.

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

                   

 Optional butter peppercorn topping

40g melted butter

2 tsp fresh green/pink peppercorns

Method

In a large pan on medium heat, melt butter and cook garlic and onion for 30 seconds, add liver and turn up the heat up a little and cook for 4-5 mins, liver should be a little pink inside. Add thyme and brandy, shake pan, brandy will catch alight so don’t worry! Cook until flame goes out or until most of the liquid is gone. Transfer to food processor, add cream and season with a little Himalayan salt, blend till smooth. Put in container to cool for 15 mins, and then you can pour over your butter/peppercorn topping. Put into refrigerator. You can halve this recipe if you want.

Beef kebabs with a creamy green peppercorn and lemon sauce, squash & wilted kale

serves 4

500g beef scotch fillet or rump steak or similar, 2cm dice

1 bunch kale, washed, main stalk taken off and chopped

3-4 yellow squash (approx. 300g) these are the yellow UFO looking vegetable. Cut in half (from north to south not through the equator, if that makes sense) then slice thinly. You could use zucchini.

1 medium head broccoli 450g, then minus the stalk to yield about 300g

150ml pure cream

1 tbsp fresh green peppercorns- you can leave them whole if you want, I like to chop them a little. You can find them in the salt and pepper section at the supermarket. It comes in a small green tin or you can get fresh peppercorns at deli’s. If you can’t find them you can either leave it out or use your normal cracked black pepper corns.

Juice from 1 lemon, you can take the zest off and use for something else before you squeeze it.

4 kebab sticks

Salt and pepper





Method

Thread the beef onto your kebab sticks, check they fit in you pan, you can just chop the ends off if you need to.

Put your broccoli in the bottom rack of the steamer and kale on the top.

Season your beef well with salt and pepper. I like to use Szechuan pepper and salt (use 3 tsp pepper to 1 tsp of salt)

In a large pan heat a little of some oil of your choice. Cook the kebabs on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes, then put your steamer on your stove top (with water in the bottom) and put on high. Then add your sliced squash. Turn over and cook another 2-3 minutes or until the beef is cooked to your liking. When the beef and squash are done take them out and put them aside. Check your broccoli and kale. In the same pan you used from the beef (do not wash it!) Add your lemon and deglaze (scrap all the yumminess from the bottom) then add your cream and peppercorns. Simmer until you have the thickness of sauce you like.(will not take long) Check the seasoning of your sauce and add salt to taste. Place kale on the plates, top with the squash and then top with your beef kebab, place broccoli around the plate. Drizzle the creamy sauce over everything J

Chia burgers-bunless

Ingredients

500g mince, beef, pork, chicken, lamb

2 T chia seed

A good whack of salt and pepper

Method

 

Mix everything together thoroughly with your hands for a minute, shape into 4 or 6 patties. Serve with all your favorite burger toppings. I like avocado, bacon, cheese, tomato and instead of a bun, briefly dip a wombok leaf in a pan of boiling water until pliable. Place burger down one end then fold the other half of the leaf over it.