Braised Oxtail

The weather has been crisp and cold with yesterday's temperature not rising above freezing. Traditional brown stews with slow cooked cuts are the best answer. When I saw an oxtail on display at the butcher's I couldn't resist it. Oxtail is fatty and full of connective tissue, but properly handled becomes tender and wonderfully unctuous (wiki definition: rich, lush, intense with layers of velvety flavours).

Gentle, slow cooking (c. 4 hours) enables the meat to be easily slipped from the bones and any fat still clinging to the meat to be discarded. Strain the cooking liquor and carefully remove all fat from it. Throw away the mirepoix (onions, carrots, leeks and celery) that has been flavouring the braise as it will have absorbed fat and lost nearly all of its texture and flavour. Cut some carrots and celery and put these in a pot with the cooking liquor and the meat and simmer until tender. Thicken the liquor with some cornflour and serve.

The Chilli Harvest

These are powerful little blighters and suitably dried will probably last us until we start cropping next year.

Comfort eating

The list of dishes that constitute comfort eating, for me, has got to include: Spag bol, chilli con carne and Lasagne.

I put a lot of effort into my lasagne including: fresh homemade pasta, finely diced sformato, homegrown tomatoes, bacon and top quality mince or hand diced cooked beef. Anyone who makes their own pasta will confirm what a labour of love this is. Having spent time making pasta I always put as much as possible into the lasagne, 7 or 8 layers at least; it should cut like a gateau and not land on the plate like a spoonful of mince with only 2 layers of pasta.

I recently read the suggestion for a chilli lasagne (chillagne or lasaglli) and thought "what a great idea to combine 2 out of the 3 top comfort food dishes?". We baked it and it looked the business, but unfortunately it didn't quite reach the heights of the perfect chilli or the best lasagne. Can't win them all.

Cuisine Grand Mere

I recently cooked two dishes full of nostalgia for my early childhood. One successful, the other not quite so.

This baked apple was a common dish at home and on school and canteen menus. We were lucky, recently, to be invited to Sunday lunch with the Jones. Mrs J is the master of the traditional roast and provided a superb roast chicken with all the trimmings, followed by a baked apple. Hers was a handsome puffed up masterpiece, sitting on the plate like Mr Creosote (see Monty Pythons' Meaning of Life). Mine captures the more homely aspect of this tasty and nourishing classic. OK, OK; I admit it Jacqui's was better.


The squeamish and faint-hearted (no pun intended) should turn away now.

My grandmother died when I was only about 8 years old but I have many memories of her food and with hindsight I believe she was an exceptional cook. Standing over her stove with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and the risk of a touch of ash to season the food, fantastic roast lunches and great puddings. Something that stands out in the memory is braised stuffed lamb hearts.

I have cooked these before, but not for many years, so I was a bit rusty. As can be seen the heart itself is lean muscle, braised for an hour and a half it was beautifully tender and had a full flavour, more like good braising steak than lamb. I should have trimmed some of the clinging external fat and probably discarded the braising vegetables before taking more care to remove more fat from the sauce as unfortunately it all ended up as being way too greasy.

Nonetheless, this was a true taste of the 1950s and early 60s, conjuring strong images of post war austerity Britain.