Beef kebabs in a honey mustard glaze
Ingredients
750g sirloin or fillet steak; four rashers unsmoked streaky bacon, halved; eight small fresh bay leaves; one small red onion, cut into wedges through the root; and thyme sprigs to garnish.
For the glaze: four tablespoons of clear honey; quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper; two garlic cloves, crushed; one tablespoon of wholegrain mustard; two teaspoons of lemon juice; salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Method
Trim any fat from the steak and cut the meat into 4cm chunks. Roll up each piece of bacon.
Mix the ingredients for the glaze together in a bowl with half a teaspoon each of salt and black pepper. Stir in the steak and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile light your barbecue if using a charcoal one. Light your gas barbecue or grill 10 minutes before cooking.
Thread four cubes of beef, two bacon rolls, two bay leaves, and two onion wedges onto each 25cm metal skewer. Place them on the barbecue or the rack of the grill pan and cook for five to six minutes, turning once or twice until the steak is nicely browned on the outside and medium-rare in the centre.
Serve immediately with champ, garnished with the thyme sprigs.
Beef and stout casserole with herby dumplings
Ingredients
Four tablespoons of sunflower oil; 500g shallots or button onions, peeled; one large onion, sliced; four carrots, cut into 2 and a half centimetre pieces; one tablespoon of sugar; 65g plain flour; salt and freshly ground black pepper; one and a half kg chuck or braising steak, cut into 6 to 7cm chunks; 75g butter; one litre of stout; 300ml beef stock; leaves from three large sprigs thyme; four fresh bay leaves; four tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce; 250g chestnut mushrooms, wiped clean and left whole; and 250g field mushrooms, wiped clean and thickly sliced.
Dumplings: 100g self-raising flour; one large pinch of baking powder; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 50g shredded beef suet; the leaves from two sprigs of thyme and approximately 100ml of cold water.
Method
Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large, flameproof, casserole. Add the shallots or small onions and fry until they are nicely browned all over. Set aside on a plate. Add the onion, carrots, and sugar and fry until nicely browned. Set aside with the shallots.
Put the flour into a large bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Add the beef and toss together well. Heat another two tablespoons of oil in the casserole and fry the beef in batches until nicely browned on all sides. Set each batch aside with the vegetables as it browns.
Add 25g of the butter to the casserole and stir in the remaining seasoned flour from the bowl. Gradually stir in the stout, rubbing the base of the pan to release all the caramelised juices. Stir in the stock, followed by the beef and vegetables, thyme leaves, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, and seasoning. Bring to the boil, part-cover, and leave to simmer very slowly on the top of the stove for one and a half hours.
Melt the remaining butter in a large frying pan, add the mushrooms and fry briskly for two minutes. Stir them into the casserole, part-cover, and simmer for another one hour until the beef is tender.
Herby dumplings: sift the flour, baking powder, salt and a little pepper into a bowl and stir in the suet and thyme leaves. Stir in enough cold water to make a soft, slightly sticky dough.
Using a spoon, divide the dough roughly into six pieces and drop onto the top of the simmering stew 25 minutes before the end of cooking. Recover and leave to cook until fluffed up and cooked through. A fine skewer, pushed into centre of a dumpling, should come out clean.
