Beef

At the Farm Shop we don’t treat cooking as a precise science, nor are we trying to give a comprehensive list of recipes. These are some of our favourite dishes and we hope you’ll give some of them a try. They’ve worked for us on countless occasions but that doesn’t mean, with a bit of imagination and a few tweaks, they can’t be improved. Good luck.
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Beef Brisket, Guinness & Black TreacleBy Ben Watson

Brisket is exactly the sort of cut that rewards patience. Give it Guinness, black treacle and a few hours of gentle cooking, and what starts as a relatively inexpensive piece of beef becomes meltingly tender, dark and ridiculously rich. The Guinness and treacle mellow into a deep, glossy sauce, while the oven does most of the work. Chris Sherville’s recipe is proper autumn and winter comfort food, best served with buttery mashed potato and seasonal greens.

Fabada AsturianaBy Ben Watson

Tapas come in many guises, from simple tortilla to London-centric ‘picture on a plate’ restaurant creations but often in Spain, and also Chez Ben’s, they can just be a ladle of whatever is in the pot at the time. Spain has an abundance of bean stews and Fabada Asturiana is, without question, the best known – almost the paella of the north.   It's as simple as they come but totally dependent on the quality of the meat ingredients. It's almost a religion and the packs of, ready to go, belly pork, morcilla and chorizo are available in every food shop (including Ben's Farm Shop). Complete authenticity requires fabes de la granja (large dried runner beans) and a lightly smoked, semi cured morcilla (black pudding), chorizo and thick slices of salted belly pork. In damp Asturia, they smoke all their preserved meats in the chimney. The morcilla is the only one that keeps it’s form when cooked so definitely isn't interchangeable. The real deal beans are expensive and hard to find so most people, including me, substitute fava/butter/judion beans. It's important to stir as gently and little as possible to keep the beans intact. 

The end result isn't exactly short of flavour but the extremely inauthentic mojo picon adds a little body to what can be a pretty thin broth. As with all these dishes, a slow cooker is ideal.

Tagliata di Manzo with winter leavesBy Ben WatsonSliced sirloin steak served on a bed of rocket with Parmesan shavings and jus - perfect for when you don't want to spend the whole evening in the kitchen.
Ultimate ChilliBy JasminThe best Chilli con Carne There are few things as welcome and comforting as a bowl of chilli.  A big pot just gets better and better as you go through the rice, baked potatoes, wraps stages and if there’s any left, or you just can’t face it on the fourth night, the filling makes a great a empanadilla that can be baked from frozen when unexpected visitors turn up at short notice. Minced beef is the norm but diced chuck, or even shin has more flavour and provides a little texture, even after prolonged cooking. I’ve only visited Mexico once, very briefly, many years ago and I had a lot of mushy beans, vegetable and rice burrito type things, all fairly spicy but not containing a lot of meat.  Chilli-con-carne is very much a Tex-Mex thing and in typical fashion, they replaced most of the vegetables and beans with beef. In fact, just north of the border, they took out the beans altogether and called it, simply, ‘red’, probably because of the heat. Apparently, as you travel further north the beans make a reappearance but, for me, there are never enough - nor anywhere near enough vegetables. Onions, tomatoes and carrots are a gimme but there’s plenty of room for red peppers and butternut squash which make it a little more Mexican. The preferred heat level is obviously subjective but a good starting point is frying the onions and carrots in some of our nduja and adding chilli as it cooks. You can always add more but you can’t take it out.
Chocolate Mole Skirt SteakBy Ben WatsonSkirt steak (or bavette as its known in France) is a flat, well marbled sheet of meat with a rope like taste and a delicate flavour. It is taken from the inner flank, just above the liver and kidneys. Ideal for marinating, bavette is at its best when cooked quickly and sliced across the grain. We've opted for a Tex Mex inspired, smokey chocolate and chilli rub that will be a sure fire hit at barbecues or in whatever fajita style creation takes your fancy.
Rare Roast Beef and Lentil SaladBy Ben WatsonRare roast beef and lentils are a great basis for any salad but what really gives this it's oomph is the addition of a few roast vegetables and our Mojo Verde. Adding the beef juices into the dressing will take it to the next level.
Perfect Beef FajitasBy Ben WatsonWe've started making our own fajita rub but adding a bit of lime and pineapple juice definitely raises these fajitas to another level. Pineapple is a well known tenderiser but over an extended period the juice of that and the lime will end up pickling and eventually drying out the meat. I'd suggest adding them an hour or so before cooking.
Beef and Mushroom StroganoffBy Ben WatsonSome would insist that only fillet steak should be used for a classic stroganoff. Most people would disagree and go for frying steak, cut into the requisite sized strips. If you don’t fancy pasta, this goes well on sourdough toast, or as a side.
Devon Steak PastyBy Redpost MediaMakes 7/8 pasties / prep time – 30 minutes (excluding making the pastry)/cooking time Preheat the oven to 170°C and brush the pasties with egg wash. Bake for about 45 minutes.  
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