Beef Short Ribs With Porcini and Chestnuts
Original Recipes by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hr 15 minutes. Note: sometimes I find that these slow cooked beef cuts take longer than other batches. I'm not sure why, perhaps it has to do with the beef itself. So leave yourself plenty of time.
This recipe is best made a day ahead
- 1 cup beef stock, hot
- 40g/1.4ozs. dried porcini and oyster mushrooms
- 1kg/2.2lbs. beef short ribs
- Oil for frying
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 1 stick celery, finely diced
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
- 1 cup marsala wine
- 100g/3.5ozs. chestnuts, vacuum packed
- 1-2 tablespoons apricot jam
Step 1 - Place the dried mushrooms in the hot stock to rehydrate. Heat or set a large pot or set your pressure cooker or instant pot to saute. Brown the beef short ribs on all sides. Set aside. Then add oil and saute the onions, carrot and celery until soft, around 10 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the short ribs back in, the stock and marsala.
Step 2 - For a pressure cooker, cook on high pressure for 1 hour. For a slow cooker, cook for 8 hours, for a cast iron pot cook in a 160C/320F oven for 4 hours.
Step 3 - I like to skim the fat off so I do this the day before I want to serve it. I remove the beef and place the sauce in a separate container and remove the fat once it cools. Then place the sauce in a saucepan with the chestnuts and heat and reduce it until half of its volume. Add in some salt, pepper and apricot jam to taste. Reheat the ribs with this sauce.
Pumpkin With Basil Gremolata
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
- 1/2 pumpkin cut into slices
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with parchment. Place slices of pumpkin on the tray and drizzle or brush with oil. Roast until cooked.
Step 2 - Meanwhile place the basil leaves, breadcrumbs, garlic, lemon zest and olive oil in a food processor and blend. When pumpkin cooked scatter over the pumpkin and bake for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.