Slow cooked beef brisket Serves 5 or 6
1kg beef brisket, diced into approx 1 inch cubes
1 tbsp cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds
1 tsp dried chilli or cayenne, cinnamon, all spice
2 medium onions, diced
1 head of garlic
a few sprigs of thyme, bay leaves and rosemary (whatever you have to hand)
2 400g tins of chopped tomatoes or approx 1kg of fresh tomatoes blitzed into a passata.
salt and pepper
1 400g tin of kidney beans
Quinoa salad
300g Bath Farm Girls quinoa
1 head broccoli, broken into florets
2 beetroots
a splash of balsamic vinegar
1 lemon (juice only)
For the tarragon dressing
approx 100g tarragon, leaves on too, roughly chopped
200ml buttermilk
1 large clove of garlic
1 lemon, juice only
50ml rapeseed oil
For the chickpea and walnut garnish
1 400g tin of cooked chickpeas
a large handful of toasted walnuts
Slow cooked beef brisket
Wrap the garlic in foil with a little oil and roast in the oven at 180oc for about 20 minutes or until soft. Set aside.
The key to this dish is good quality beef. The herbs and spices are quite subtle to let the meat shine. In a large saucepan fry the brisket in a little hot oil, rapeseed if possible. You don’t need much as once you start to render the fat on the beef it will create it’s own oil. Once well browned remove from the pan but leave the fat.
Fry the onions and spices gently until soft and then add back in the beef. Now add the tomatoes and add water to cover. In a muslin, wrap the roast garlic and herbs. Place this in the mix and simmer on a low heat for about 4 hours or until the meat starts to fall apart. Just 15 minutes from the end, add the kidney beans and season to taste. You should go low on the salt as the spices will naturally season the mix.
Quinoa salad
In a fairly large pan boil the beetroot until tender. Set aside and cool.
Into that same water add the quinoa. Boil until it just starts to break apart and is tender. Drain and set aside to cool.
In a separate pan add the broccoli to a pan of hard boiling water. The water should then drop down below the boil. Once it comes back to the boil it should be cooked. You want just a little give on the stalk but cook longer if you prefer it softer. Remove from the water and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
Peel the beetroots, cut to 1 cm squares and dress with the balsamic vinegar. Combine with quinoa and broccoli and add the lemon juice.
For the tarragon dressing
In a food processor mix all ingredients except the rapeseed oil and blitz until you have a smooth green sauce. Now slowly add the rapeseed oil. It should slightly thicken and become glossy. Season to taste.
For the chickpea and walnut garnish
Pre-heat the oven to 170c. On a baking tray add the chickpeas. Nothing else is needed. Simply roast them until they dry right out and have the texture of peanuts.
To finish, start filling your plate with the salad. I like to serve it cold. Top with hot beef, the dressing, the chickpeas and walnuts.
Steve Mercer is Head Chef at Neston Farm Shop and Kitchen. This recipe is the one he created for our Cardiologist’s Kitchen Patients’ Workshop in June. It is on the menu in the Neston Kitchen.
The Bath Farm Girls website can also be accessed here.
