Monday, July 31, 2017

Beef brisket in red wine with pink peppercorns

Ingredients
1 piece of brisket
1 medium carrot, chopped and
6 carrots with tops or about 10 chanteney carrots, left whole, trimmed and scrubbed
2 small red onions
1 large stick of celery, chopped
1 rasher smoked streaky bacon, chopped
About 6 chestnut mushrooms, quartered
1 heaped teaspoon of pink pepper corns
a squeeze of tomato puree
1 bottle of red wine - something robust and fruity
a splash of brandy if you have any knocking about
oil for frying
butter for frying
potato or corn flour to thicken the sauce
salt and black pepper to season (and possibly a drop or two of Maple Syrup)


Equipment
Pressure cooker and an oven proof casserole dish that’s also ok on the stove top


Method
Quarter the red onions, leaving the base root part on, peel the quarters and trim the stringy bits of root.
Season the brisket with plenty of pepper and a little salt (the bacon will add more salt) and brown well, all over, in a little oil in the pressure cooker.
Remove the beef and put the onions, chopped carrot, celery and bacon in the pressure cooker. Add a little more oil if necessary and when the veg start to brown. If you have some brandy add a generous splash heat it up and then set fire to it.
Put the beef back and add about 3 quarters of the bottle of wine (put the rest in a glass and drink it as you cook). Add a squeeze of tomato puree. Bring to the boil and stir well to mix in any residue from the frying that may be stuck to the bottom of the cooker. Let it boil for about 5 minutes to reduce the wine a bit.
Put the lid on the pressure cooker, bring up to full pressure and cook for about 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to about 180 - 200.
In the oven proof casserole melt a good size knob of butter and gently fry the whole carrots and the mushrooms. When they start to brown add a heaped teaspoon of the flour and cook for another couple of minutes stirring well with a wooden spoon.
Remove the pressure cooker from the heat and reduce the pressure quickly. Add the liquid from the cooker to the casserole stirring well then add the rest of the beef and vegetables.
Add the pink peppercorns and adjust the seasoning. Depending on what wine you've used and whether or not you added the brandy you may feel that it needs to be slightly sweeter - in this case add a very little Maple Syrup.
Put a lid on the casserole and put in the oven for about half an hour.
To serve remove the beef from the sauce and slice it up or just pull it apart, put it on a plate and add carrots and pour over the sauce.
Serve with mashed potatoes to soak up the gravy or, as you’ve got the oven on anyway, roast potatoes.