I had another good customer service experience tonight. I went over to the Broadway to get supplies for this beef stew, and I stopped in at the butcher for the meat. “Would that gravy beef be good for a stew?” I asked the guy at the counter. He nodded. I opened my mouth to tell him how much I wanted, when I was suddenly interrupted by another guy in the back. “Nah, you’ll want the oxtail!” he suggested. The what? Oxtail. He showed me a tray of it, which reminded me of shin beef (for making osso bucco). It didn’t take much convincing. It was cheap, and my helpful butcher friend gave me some tips on cooking it. (Just brown it and leave it on the bone while it cooks; add in a good glug of red wine; let it stew for a long time…) So tonight, I cooked oxtail stew for the first time. I cooked it on the stove (rather than putting it in the oven) for about two hours, and I substituted potatoes instead of rutabaga. It was GREAT. The meat went very tender, and the gelatine from the bones made for a lovely rich thick soup (without being overly fatty). Any ickiness I might have felt over eating, you know, SPINAL CORD pretty much disappeared when I had the bowl in front of me. I was gnawin’ those bones with my bare hands! (My sister will be retching at this point.) Thanks, Mr. Butcher Man! It was cheap, filling, and oh so tasty. Much recommended for the carnivorous folks…

Bacon curls – the perfect garnish for your Meat Cake!

I was chatting to the Snook over IM this afternoon about what we were going to have for supper when I suddenly got a massive craving for baked beans. And I don’t mean crappy beans out of a can — REAL baked beans. So I went looking for recipes. I settled for these Hot and Smoky Baked Beans, which seemed like a good compromise between my desire for mostly-homemade and my lack of thirteen hours to soak dried beans. I used Toohey’s Old for the “dark beer,” and I substituted treacle for the molasses (since we already had some in the cupboard). I don’t see Great Northern Beans here very often, so I went with the much more common cannellini beans instead. Other than that, my only substitution was in using dried chipotle powder instead of canned chilis. (Since Australia doesn’t have a big Hispanic population, stuff like that isn’t easy to find. We get our chipotle powder from Herbie’s.) The Snook was dismissive of my plan at first, as he’s not a huge fan of American-style baked beans. (He says they’re too sweet.) The smell of these won him over though, and he heartily approved of the nice smoky flavour from the chipotle. My only complaint was that I wanted the dish overall to be a bit thicker and stickier. Part of that might be because I only used five cans of beans instead of six (on the recommendation of some of the reviews). The next time I make them, I might use more beans and let ’em cook a lot longer. I think these would be great at your next big family dinner though!

A couple years ago, my old Epson buddy Kiri invited me over to her place for a birthday party. One of dishes she had was a sort of gourmet beanie-weenies. “Mmm, what’s the magic ingredient in this?” I asked. “Fennel,” she replied. My jaw dropped. Fennel, you see, is also called “aniseed,” and it’s basically the stuff that gives licorice its taste. I hate licorice. But evidently cooking fennel reduces that strong medicinal taste. It was yummy! I asked for and was granted the recipe, which I’ve made a few times since… most notably last night.

Sausage and Bean Stew
4 thick Italian style sausages (I used 6 thin ones)
2 T olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large bulb of fennel, trimmed and finely chopped (I whizzed mine in the food processor)
1/2 t. dried chili flakes
1 T tomato paste
400g tin chopped tomatoes
440g tin canellini beans, drained and rinsed (which I am incapable of referring to as anything but “cannelloni” beans)
1/2 c. chicken stock
1 small sprig rosemary
2 T. chopped flat leaf parsley
shaved parmesan

Place sausages in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for two minutes, then drain well. When cool, cut on the diagonal into 2cm pieces.

Heat olive oil in a heavy-based flameproof casserole. Add sausage pieces and cook over medium-high heat until browned, then drain on absorbent paper. Reduce heat to low-medium, then add onion, garlic, fennel and chili to pan and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until soft. Then stir in tomato paste and cook for another five minutes. Add tomato, beans, stock, and rosemary, then cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Stir in sausage pieces and parsley and season to taste. (Pull out the rosemary.) Serve topped with parmesan with a crusty bread on the side.