4 Hour Roast Beef with Red Wine Sauce
It’s a fairly straight forward recipe and really takes no time at all to
4 Hour Roast Beef Rump in Red Wine
Sauce
WTF is Oxtail
They are more often than not sold as individual sections of bone with their surrounding meat. If you do happen to get a whole one you can feel along for a the gap between the bone and cut there. As far as cooking it, think of how you’d cook a lamb shank - long and slow and good for the base of a stock or stew. There isn’t usually much meat on these things as the tail of most animals is used to store fat but if you’re served a piece you’ve really got to pick them up and chew off the meat.
For something a little different, you can try making a paté
Oxtail Paté
Oxtail
Paté - Makes 2 cups
1kg of oxtail
1T of olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves, ground
10 juniper berries, crushed
1 bay leaf
Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC. Toss all of the ingredients together
and roast for 6+ hours until a skewer pierces the meat without
resistence.
Take the roasting tray out and pick over the bones, removing the
large pieces of fat and placing the meat into a food processor.
Discard the bones. Remove the bay leaf and add everything else to
the food processor. Blend until the meat becomes fine, but not a
pureé.
Pack the paté into a dish suitable for serving in and cover in
plastic wrap. It can be keept for up to a week refridgerated.
His Name Was Robert Paulson
Jack (Ed Norton) and Bob (Meat Loaf) at support group in Fight
Club
I was considering calling this post “My Meatloaf has Bitch Tits”
but that doesn’t really portray the damn fine tasty meatloaf that I
made tonight. I know it’s a bit of a tenuous link but Meat Loaf
played the character Robert Paulson, the guy with bitch tits that
Jack meets at his testicular cancer support group... With torn off
pieces of fresh buffalo mozzarella and sun-dried tomato this
meatloaf really is a notch above what you’ve probably ever
considered a meatloaf could be.
The original recipe for this meatloaf comes from Mario
Batali’s father (via Epicurious), which might explain Mario’s
own bitch tits. The entire loaf, if made as directed weighs in at
2-3 kg! I intended to make half of this but I wasn’t paying
attention when I went to buy the ingredients and bought enough to
make the full recipe, luckily meatloaf can be frozen well. Sort of
like Meat Loaf’s assets. I
cheated a little in this recipe, David Jones had some great looking
beef rissoles that had onion, carrot, parsley and a few other bits
already mixed through in what looked about the right proportion so
I bought that instead of just plain minced beef. For a little more
vegetable matter in a meal that will be almost entirely meat I made
some balsamic roast vegetables to go along side - just baby
carrots, red onion, parsnip etc tossed with some olive oil and a
splash of balsamic and roasted along side the meatloaf for the last
half hour.
Beef and Italian Sausage Meatloaf
with Sundried Tomatoes and Mozarella
Beef and Sausage Meatloaf - Serves 8 or
more
1kg of lean beef mince
500g of buffalo mozzarella, torn into pieces
500g of italian sausage, cases removed
2 cups of chopped fresh basil
2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup of sliced sun-dried tomatoes
5 garlic cloves
1½ tablespoons of dried oregano
2 teaspoons of salt
2 × ½ cup of tomato sauce
3 eggs
½ cup of dry red wine
Pre-heat your oven to 190ºC. Thoroughly mix all of the ingredients
together in a bowl except one of the half cups of tomato sauce.
Mould into a loaf shape and place in a loaf tin and even out the
surface. Brush on the remaining tomato sauce. Bake in the oven for
about an hour and fifteen minutes or until a meat thermometer
reaches 70-75ºC at the centre of the loaf.
Beef and Broccoli Satay
The book itself is split between things you’ll find in the cupboard, fridge or freezer and is really well cross referenced eg: “Peanuts also used in recipes on pages, 18, 21, 36...”.
The curry, which I renamed a satay wasn’t bad but it could have used a bit of fresh lime juice over the top to give it the salty/sweet/sour flavour combination that thai cooking is famous for.
Beef and Broccoli
Satay
Beef and Broccoli Satay - Serves 2
500g Rump Steak, cut into strips across the grain
2 tablespoons of red curry paste
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
½ peanuts
1 tin of coconut milk (or cream thinned with water)
1 cup of broccoli foretts
1 cup of sliced red capsicum
1 lime cut into wedges
2 cups of cooked jasmine rice to serve
corriander to garnish (optional)
In a very hot wok, fry the beef in batches until it’s brown all
over and set it aside.
Add the red curry paste to the wok and fry for a minute until it
becomes fragrant. Keep stiring it or else it’ll burn. Add the
peanut butter, peanuts and the coconut milk and simmer until the
sauce has reduced by half. Add the broccoli and capsicum and simmer
until tender. Mix the beef back in and simmer for a minute until
the beef is hot again.
Serve over rice and with a wedge of lime on the side to help cut
through the thickness of the sauce and to give it a bit of an extra
tang.
Ironically, you didn't even have to chew the beef cheek
Eventually I get a menu, eventually the waitress comes back to take my order, eventually I get my drinks, eventually I get my food. Saying that though, if I'd gotten the braised beef cheek ($18.50) that I ordered any faster I might have had to send it back. To a chef that has a large menu full of relatively quick dishes, like the asian inspired duck salad that I almost went for, having a couple of slow food items can really throw you. If you slow cook something and hold it in a perpetual state of almost finished like you have to in a restaurant - heating it and getting it on a plate too fast will cease the meat, make it tough ruining hours worth of braising.
Braised Beef Cheek from Grub &
Tucker, Newtown
If you haven't had beef cheek but like lamb shanks, I'd suggest
giving it a try. Like shanks, cheek is a very well used muscle
group so it's hard and tough and needs long slow cooking to make it
tender and even more than a shank, you get that wonderful
gelatinous mouth feel that just means winter for any self
respecting carnivore. This dish was served on a bed of potato
purée, sliced green beans and broccoli, unfortunately the greens
were a little over done and even with the flourish of fresh parsley
over the top it still lacked both the freshness and the body you'd
expect for a dish that's obviously meant to warm you from the
inside. The beef cheek itself was excellent mind, but the jus
lacked body, a handful of black peppercorns in the jus while it was
simmering would have fixed it.
On the plus side, a walk down King Street on a Saturday night is
really what this neighbourhood is all about. Instead of having to
deal with drunks and drug addicts along Oxford Street, I found
street performers and artists and a happy active crowd of onlookers
enjoying the spectacle. Best of all, I met the group of artists
that put together Oh Really
Magazine, picked up a piece of their artwork (free with a
donation!) and commissioned them to do some work for me. I love
Newotwn.
Oh Really Pig
Veal Tortellini and Meatballs
I really am sorry to say but I couldn't taste much of it at all. The meatballs were strong, the pasta wasn't and the sauce had a nice chili kick that I think has made my nose start running again. I'll have to try those meatballs again when I can smell them.
Veal Tortellini and
Meatballs
Intercontinental, Burswood
I had a room-service dinner with my brother and sister-in-law and all of us were blown away with the quality and value. We had two soups, two fillet steaks with prawns and a sirloin with roast veg, all for around $135 and that really is great value.
My sister-in-law had a tom yum soup ($15) that was perfectly balanced hot-sour, not too much oil and with giant prawns resting as a surprise on the bottom of the bowl while I had the wonton noodle soup ($13) that was amazing; the broth was clear, golden and delicately flavoured and the wontons were the best I’ve ever had. The wonton skins were perfectly white, delicately thin and a perfect mouthful of prawn and I think scallop meat. When I saw it presented I was a little disappointed that there weren’t any egg noodles in the bottom and no seafood free-floating on top but once I tasted it all of that was forgiven. I can tell that I’ll be trying all winter to re-create this soup.
Wonton Noodle Soup, Intercontinental
Burswood
As for the main courses my
sister-in-law and I both chose the fillet steak with prawns and
wedges and my brother had the sirloin with roasted vegetables (all
around $35). All of us, as with the soups were extremely impressed.
The steaks were generous, all over 500g and the sirloin I’d suggest
was pushing 750g and even with the ride up from the kitchen to our
room they were perfectly cooked just how we’d ordered them and all
butter soft.
Sirloin and Roast Vegetables,
Intercontinental Burswood
The only thing I missed from the meal,
not that we’d ordered it, was a bottle of water on the table; for
an order this size it would have been a nice touch but I won’t
fault them for not providing one. The one litre bottle of Evian in
the mini-bar was $8.
The next morning I ordered the “Burswood Breakfast” from room
service as the buffet breakfast wasn’t included in my rate. It was
$35 and again I couldn’t find fault with it. My family had
breakfast at the buffet and the report was they would have been
more than happy with just what I’d received. A choice of eggs with
a mountain of bacon, sausages and tomato, fruit platter, toast,
several spreads a croissant and a Danish with juice and tea or
coffee. Each morning I had it I could only get through half. If
you’re a light eater, you could possibly split this with someone
else if you ordered an extra pastry and juice. Some how, the
poached eggs on my first morning were delivered perfectly cooked
with soft runny yolks and the scrambled eggs on the second day were
tender, rich and creamy while the bacon was a good mix of soft and
crispy.
Burswood Breakfast, Intercontinental,
Burswood
Next tim I head to Perth I’m going to have to stay again, hopefully with a little more forward planning I’ll be able to book a club room and check out their lounge.
Manly Grill - One of the best cheeseburgers in Sydney
The thing that, as always, makes it for me is the
demeanor of the staff, if it's not service with a smile, it's
not service. Sure, may be it had more to do with the beautiful day
or the incredible shirtless scenery walking past every 3 seconds
(which in all honesty is why I went to Manly instead of Newtown)
than it did with me but who cares, it makes a difference. These
people smiled and they genuinely seemed happy to take my order.
Which brings us to the menu. Manly grill prides it self on the two
things that any restaurant in this sort of location should, it's
seafood and it's beef. While it was the perfect day for seafood
such as their enormous $120 seafood platter which is well worth the
money from what I could see around me. It would serve 2 Americans,
or 4 normal people. I opted for a plain and simple cheeseburger,
served with shoestring fries and homemade coleslaw.
What I got though was far from a standard cheeseburger, it was
simple, just the basics, but that's what you want from a
cheeseburger. The beef on this thing was fantastic. 200 day grain
fed Black Angus from the
Southern
Highlands. No wonder it tasted good. There was a little surpise
with the buns too, they were char grilled like the burger, the
underside had thick and dark scorched lines which gave a much
appreciated smokey flavour that, I'm guessing, came from a charcoal
grill given the unique taste. As for the sides, the fries were
expertly cooked, pale yet hot and crispy. No sign of McCain, and
the coleslaw was very high quality if a little limp from being
under a heat lamp a fraction too long (or the 30°C sunshine).
This is a good quality restaurant, in a top location, so do expect
to pay for what you get, unlike some other restaurants on this
strip. For my burger, two pepsi max and a bottle of perrier, the
bill came to a fraction over $35.00
Food, 8/10 - I'd have liked a small salad in place
of the large quantity of fries, otherwise, it was
extraordinary
Service, 8.5/10 - Always a smile, always attentive
and efficient
Value, 8/10 - Perhaps a touch over priced for a
cheeseburger
Location, 8.5/10 - Hard to beat in Manly
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Coffee, Steak, Garden Salad and Beer some how work well in one meal
The general gist of the recipes went along the lines of grinding coffee with any combination of chili, coriander seeds, mustard seeds. fennel, salt, pepper, oregano and anything else you've got in your spice draw.
I used a broken up Illy
coffee pod, maldon sea salt, cinnamon, black pepper, mustard
seeds, coriander seeds and dried oregano. After I ground the spices
I drizzled the steak in olive oil and coated it with the spices and
grilled until medium rare. I tossed together a quick garden salad
with an olive oil and whole grain mustard.
On the side I had a Monteith's
Summer Ale, from New Zealand, which is a quite nice summer ale
that's got a lovely ginger kick to it which in turn leaves a nice
warmth on the palate. The bottle suggests a wedge of lime that
gives it a little bit heavier than a Corona mouthfeel and taste, but it also
suggests an orange segment. Damn I wish I had an orange to try this
with. All round, a great beer that's something different from the
rest and well worth a try.
Sofitel Brisbane - Overwhemlingly Under-whelmed
Sofitel Looking from Post Office Square and across Anzac
Square
By no means was Michelle from the front
desk the only pleasant and friendly staff member at the Sofitel.
The staff in the club lounge were excellent, happy and cheerful and
even remembered Miles and I when we came back over a month after
our first visit. Heck, they even smiled while they cleaned up the
plate of scrambled eggs Miles dropped on the floor half asleep one
morning. Speaking of the scrambled eggs, the club lounge breakfasts
are quite nice in their own right; they have all of the basics, but
then, only the basics. Fronting up for breakfast are scrabbled
eggs, mushrooms & bacon in the bain-marie and a good selection
of fruit, yoghurt, and a few cereals and juices and some pastries;
plus champagne on weekends. I’d liked to have seen more but I’m
happy with what they provided. I guess if they did have more no one
with access to the club lounge would fork out the $30 for the
“interactive” breakfast at Thyme² which had everything from eggs
benedict to custom made omelettes.
Club
Lounge Breakfast at the Sofitel Brisbane
Evening drinks and canapés at the club
lounge were much better than the breakfasts, a good selection of
cold items, sushi, an antipasti platter, petit fours and some warm items
ranging from samosas, spring rolls,
curry puffs etc (two different hot items per night, cold items are
the same). The hot food again wasn’t anything extraordinary, all
from a packet, but I guess the fact that there were free wines,
beers and spirits made up for it considering the prices at the
Cuvee Bar downstairs. The view on dusk can't be beat too! The club
lounge is a perfect way to start an evening and I would highly
recommend a visit here.
Lower Level of the Club Lounge
Upper Level of the Club Lounge
As for the $6 million dollar upgrade of
the hotel recently; the lobby,
restaurant and bar as well as the club
lounge were extensively upgraded and a quite nice with clean
lines and lots of natural materials, the rooms though need some
improvement. Sofitel has a concept called “myBed”
which is meant to provide a night sleep that will change your life
forever, apparently. I understand what they’re trying to achieve,
most beds in Australia have hard and overly firm mattresses, but
really what you need is a fairly soft mattress that will conform to
your body and support it, the bed I have at home is like that and
it’s like sleeping in a warm hug. What I got out of the beds here
were sore necks and shoulders and the feeling that all of the
mattresses were worn out, less like a hug and more like a school
camp.
The
corner suite we stayed in on the first visit seemed quite tired
despite the new furnishings while the
club room I stayed in the second time suffered less; though it
could have used thicker walls. The couple in the room next to us
seemed to enjoy their room quit a lot. They enjoyed it at 3:00am,
again at 3:30, 8:30 and 9. They enjoyed it so much that the bottle
of water on MY bedside table fell off.
On the whole I’m disappointed with the Sofitel Brisbane,
particularly because the few times I’ve stayed in their Melbourne and Sydney counterparts I’ve
never had a problem, the beds were huge and comfortable, the staff
were excellent and the food was great and well priced. The Sofitel
Brisbane is definitely the poor cousin to their bigger city family.
When I head north again in a couple of weeks I think I’ll try the
Hilton but I’m
worried that like the Sofitel, it’s going to be suffering from it’s
hurried Expo ’88 construction
and lack of a through refurbishment since. I really am worried that
the Sofitel Brisbane may still well be the best on offer. If the
Hilton doesn’t prove any better Miles is going to have to start
coming down here instead. I’ve got a more comfortable bed, a
quieter room and better food at home.
Up Stairs, Down Stairs
Saying that though it still beats being downstairs with the commoners fighting for a bottle of Mount Franklin and the last Whopper. At least here they form an orderly queue to fight for the last re-heated deep fried, umm... I guess it's meant to be a pork dumpling? It's too big for a wonton and it's the wrong shape for a dim sim. Who knows, it was full of reclaimed pork what ever it was.
My flight out, QF548, after boarding at least (the attendant that
was relegated to Y Class was quite rude)
was splendid under the Cabin Manager I flew with, Julianne. This is
the second or third time I've had the privilege of flying with her
and I hope I'll be able to again. Service in the business cabin was
smooth, efficient and personable, as I'd mentioned before - the
simple things of being called by name are the things that really
make the difference between service and quality that despite it's
industry reputation, factions of Qantas flight crew are actually
striving to achieve.
As for the meal, my seat buddy Corey and I we were served a
reasonable beef in oyster sauce with jasmine rice and a 'salad'. I
say 'salad' because it only just qualified as one. In my opinion a
salad needs two ingredients and this only had two different types
of lettuce. The spicy asian vinaigrette from Neil Perry that went with it was
wonderful, I even put some on the beef because the sauce that had
was quite plain. I was actually surprised with the bread roll, it
was incredibly soft. I guess Qantas realised they shouldn't arm
200+ passengers with their previous hard as a brick projectiles.
The wine was quite nice too - a 2004 Penfolds Shiraz with a deep cherry
note.
