Walking along High Street the other day, I noticed that Vespa, the little Café-come-bar in the Strange’s Building, had a new item on the dinner menu. This was a Shin Beef Tagine, a notion that struck me as a really good idea. I have no idea what Bill Ness might put in his Shin Beef Tagine, but I soon came up with a recipe of my own which I tried out very successfully indeed on some guests the following week. Thanks to Bill and Alex and the team at Vespa.
Ingredients.
¼ cup oil.
1 medium leek, thinly sliced and the green bits removed.
¼ cup grated celeriac.
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped.
1kg diced shin beef.
¼ cup sultanas.
¼ cup dried apricots, finely chopped.
¼ cup oil.
2 tsp pomegranate molasses.
1 tsp turmeric.
2 tsp ground cumin.
1 tsp ground fennel.
Dash cayenne pepper.
Salt to taste.
300g pumpkin, peeled and diced.
1 good squeeze lemon juice.
¼ cup chopped coriander greens.
Method.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Smear the base of the tagine with the oil and cover with the leek, celeriac and garlic. Cover this with the diced meat and sprinkle with the dried fruits. Mix together the oil, molasses, turmeric, cumin, fennel and salt. Pour the mixture over the meat, put the lid on the dish and place in the oven.
Cook for 1 ½ hours. Remove, stir gently and dot with the diced pumpkin. Squeeze the lemon juice over, replace the lid and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, garnish with the chopped coriander and serve with boiled rice or couscous.
Serves: 4-5.
Poddimok 