Beer-Braised Beef Brisket with Branston

 I made a version of this recipe when I had a lesson at the London Barbecue School courtesy of Branston; we used thin steaks rather than beef brisket as they were quicker to cook, and they had been pre-marinaded.

 

I liked it so much I decided to make the full version of this recipe at home, which you can find on the Branston website here.

 

To serve 4, you need:

 

500g beef brisket

Bottle of dark beer – I actually used Liefmans Fruit Beer for a lovely fruity taste

1 tbsp honey

1 head of garlic, cut in half

100g Danish blue cheese, crumbled

150ml buttermilk

1 tbsp cider vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

1 tsp garlic powder (available in the spice section of supermarkets)

Pinch of pepper

½ head of Savoy cabbage, core removed, and thinly sliced – I don’t like cabbage generally so used mooli instead

½ red onion, thinly sliced

1 carrot, peeled and grated

4 large flour tortillas (I actually served mine on the little gem leaves as I was avoiding carbs)

Branston Smoky Tomato & Chipotle Relish

2 sliced medium Jalapenos or green chillis (I left these out)

 

Marinade the beef overnight in the beer, honey and garlic.

 

 

When you are ready to cook, pre-heat oven to 120C – a pretty cool temperature. You are going to braise the beef, in the marinade, for 3-4 hours until cooked through and tender.

 

 

When it’s ready, carefully transfer the beef to a plate or chopping board and cover with foil. Strain the cooking liquid into a pan and reduce to a glaze.

 

Use two forks to shred the beef, and add to the pan with the glaze and fold in.

 

Meanwhile mix the cheese, buttermilk, vinegar, garlic powder and pepper in a large bowl until smooth. Add the cabbage, carrot and onion and stir until all combined.

 

 

 

To serve, place a tortilla (warmed in a skillet if you like) onto a plate, top with little gem, the slaw and pulled beef brisket. Add a dash of the Smoky Tomato and Chipotle Relish and sprinkle with chillis if desired.

 

 

I often make chicken fajitas but this was the first time I had served my husband pulled beef in a tortilla wrap and he really liked it. I don’t normally buy beer or have 4 hours to cook something in the oven so this isn’t something I’d probably make again, but I did really enjoy it – and it showed me once again how versatile Branston is.

 

Bring out the Branston - Barbecue Recipes with Pickle, Relish and Sauce

“Bring out the Branston” – the advertising slogan for Branston Pickle – is something I associate with cheese sandwiches, not barbecues. But the brand, which started life in 1922, is now known for more than just pickle and has a range of relishes and table sauces. By inviting a group of food and lifestyle bloggers to the London Barbecue School, they were able to showcase just what you can do with their products - and there wasn't a cheese and pickle sandwich in sight!

 

I've been to the London Barbecue School before; it's run by a very nice man named Alistair who is also the lead tutor at the School of Food. They specialise in using Kamado Joe barbecues, which are ceramic egg-shaped grills that gives you the ability to grill, smoke or sear; the grill itself is in two parts so can be used at different levels to create different heat zones.

 

Edward from Mizkan, the company that owns Branston Pickle, introduced himself and spoke a little about the brand, and then we were told about the recipes we would be cooking. We would be using Branston products in some of the recipes themselves, not just as accompaniments – and I learnt something straight away. Do you know the difference between a relish and a chutney? They often have similar ingredients, but a relish is made to go with hot food while a chutney is meant to go with cold food.

 

We organised ourselves into small groups and chose which recipe we wanted to do, from a choice of:
sticky pork chops
Tex-Mex chicken tacos
mushroom and grilled cheese burger
beer-braised brisket with blue cheese slaw

 

 

I decided I most liked the sound of the steak so my group began to prepare our ingredients.

We were given thin steaks rather than a large piece of brisket as that would have taken far too long to cook; the steaks had already been marinaded so all we needed to do was put them on the barbecue.

Meanwhile two of us got on with making the slaw – I am not normally a fan of coleslaw but thought this looked really good and it did taste great.

To serve, we placed the steak, some slaw, some little gem lettuce and some Branston in a tortilla and wrapped it up - delicious!

I saw people making the other recipes and they all looked very tasty; I would never have thought of using Branston to jazz up chicken tacos and as part of the recipe rather than an accompaniment.

I also cooked some burgers for the rest of the group, which went really well with the Branstons Rich and Smoky sauce; I really had no idea they had so many products beyond just pickle!
 

Barbecue Spicy Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

This is something a little bit different to do on the barbecue - it's still fairly easy to do, and tastes absolutely delicious. Not everyone wants a lot of heavy meat at a barbecue and this is a brilliant way to serve fish.

The recipe is from a book called Jamie Oliver's Food Tube presents The BBQ Book - I thought initially it was written by Jamie Oliver but it's actually someone called DJ BBQ, an American DJ and barbecue chef who gives his recipes names like 'kick ass fish tacos'.

I left the guacamole and the red cabbage out of this recipe as I don't like it. You need to make the mango salsa separately and make the Mexican rub for the fish first, though it's very quick - what took longest was finding all the spices in the cupboard!

Here's what to do:
For the Mexican rub:

Mix 1tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp. sea salt, 1 tbsp. ground cumin, 1 tbsp. chilli powder, 1 tsp onion granules, 1 tsp garlic granules, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp smoked paprika.

It's a good idea to make the mango salsa before you start barbecuing as well. Mix a diced ripe mango with half a red onion, chopped, half a cucumber (which I left out as I don't like cucumber), a handful of fresh coriander leaves, the juice of 1 lime and a sprinkling of sea salt.

 

I had a long piece of cod in the freezer from when it was reduced in the supermarket; you can use any kind of (ideally chunky) white fish for this recipe. I rubbed the Mexican rub over the fish (any extra will keep) and put the fish on some tin foil. It didn't take long on the barbecue (we have a Weber gas barbecue) and when it was ready, I flaked the fish and used it to fill some soft flour tortillas and added the mango salsa on top. Delicious!

Vegetable Tortillas and Spicy Chicken Tortillas

A few months ago I went to a cookery demonstration from Old El Paso, where I discovered the ‘stand and stuff’ tortilla kits – soft tortillas that stand up by themselves and resemble little boats; they are so easy to fill and eat and make Mexican food really fun.

 

Last Saturday I had two of my bridesmaids over for a dress fitting – we had a really nice day of trying on dresses (theirs and mine) and then discussing everything from shoes to nail varnish back at my house, while my long-suffering fiancé played computer games! They stayed to dinner and I made Mexican fajitas – a meat version and a vegetarian (actually, a vegan) version.

 

The tortillas are vegan and so is the seasoning mix that comes with the kit. To make the veggie one, I chopped half a butternut squash into cubes and decided the best way to soften it enough was to simmer it in a little water in the bottom of my Ozeri wok – so not boil in a pan of water as such, but I didn’t think frying alone would soften it enough.

 

 

When it had been cooking for about ten minutes I sliced a red pepper, green pepper and yellow pepper and added them to the pan with a sachet of the seasoning mix. With the water that was already in the pan it made a nice sauce. I also added some diced courgette.

 

For the meat option, I cooked three butterflied chicken breasts, again with a sachet of the seasoning mix (you can purchase them separately which I did as I wanted two and you get one in the kit) and when the chicken was cooked I shredded it with a knife and fork.

 

 

In the meantime I cooked some potato wedges in the oven and then heated some refried beans from a tin and put the sachet of salsa that came with the meal kit in one of the little bowls I bought in Mexico. I also grated some cheese, put some salad in bowls and quickly heated the tortilla boats in the microwave, and then allowed everyone to fill their own. It made for a really nice meal and was very easy to cater for both meat eaters and vegans or vegetarians.

 

I'm sending these to the Extra Veg food blog challenge as this is a fun way to eat more veg if you're not that keen perhaps - for some reason assembling your own and the little tortilla pockets are much more palatable than a plate full of veg! The challenge is hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours.

 

 

Old El Paso Restaurante Kit - Chicken Tinga

I don't often buy 'dinner kits', preferring to make things from scratch - or if I'm in a hurry just put on a pan of pasta. But  kits can be almost the same as cooking from scratch, and most importantly they save hunting around for ingredients and realising you don't have the right spices, which happens to me a lot!
I was sent two kits from Old El Paso - chicken tinga and Baja fish - and I tried the chicken one this week. They also make steak and pork kits in this range.

According to the company, "the origin of Chicken Tinga or “Tinga de Pollo” is most often attributed to the Puebla region of Mexico. Today, however, it is a popular street food throughout Mexico, especially during celebrations. The Tinga flavour is made with a mouth-watering blend of tomatoes, onions, garlic and smoked and dried jalapeños peppers known as chipotle chilies that give it a slight smoky taste."

Inside the box you get a packet of small flour tortillas, a sachet of chicken seasoning and another of chipotle sauce. It doesn't include the chicken, which means you can keep this box in the cupboard for when you run out of ideas for how to jazz up a chicken breast!

Following the packet instructions I mixed the chicken seasoning with water and cooked two chicken breasts in the liquid in a pan, until the chicken was soft enough to shred. I removed the chicken from the pan, shredded it and returned it to the pan, where the chicken soaked up a lot of the liquid.

I gently heated the tortillas in the microwave, then used some of the chipotle sauce to spread on each tortilla and filled it with chicken. The packet recommends you add onion and avocado but we don't like avocado and my fiancé doesn't like onion if it's big pieces so I left it out - instead I topped the tortillas with a little sour cream and a tiny bit of cheese for him. Fold and eat - it's as simple as that!


The tacos were delicious -a really good blend of spices. I served them with potato wedges and think this is definitely something I will be doing again!
Thanks to Old El Paso for the meal kits to review.

Huevos Rancheros - Mexican breakast eggs

Translating as "rancher's eggs" this is a popular Mexican breakfast dish, though not one that I actually managed to eat while we were in Mexico! Because of that I decided to make it as a light lunch/brunch after we came back. I found this Food Network Jamie Oliver recipe but adapted it to make it quicker - rather than make my own tomato sauce I used passata from a box. I'm also not a fan of fried eggs so I decided to make this with poached eggs instead and it was really nice. I also forgot the cheese on top!

Here's how to make my speedy version. To serve 2:
1/4 onion, diced
100g diced chorizo
oil for frying
2 flour tortillas
2 eggs
8 tbsp. passata
fresh coriander to serve

Fry the onion and chorizo in a large frying pan until cooked through then add the passata and heat. Meanwhile poach the eggs.

In another frying pan, heat a little oil and fry the tortillas for a minute each on each side. Place an egg on each tortilla on a plate and top with the chorizo and passata mixture. Top with a little chopped coriander.

 

I'm sending this to Simply Eggcellent, hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen; this month he's asking 'how do you like your eggs in the morning?'

Ham and Cheese Quesadillas

The letter for this month's Alphabakes is Q - a little difficult when it comes to baking (I did a Queen of Puddings when this letter came up last time) - but there are a few savoury dishes and ingredients that begin with Q.

I've made quesadillas before and they are quick and easy; they are a Mexican dish so it was particularly good timing as I was looking for ways to use up ingredients in my fridge before going on holiday to Mexico, and as I was in the middle of packing didn't want to make anything that would take too long.

A quesadilla is basically a tortilla, filled with cheese and anything else you fancy, folded over and fried on both sides or grilled, so the cheese melts, then cut into triangles to serve.

I had some soft flour tortillas in the fridge to use up and a packet of ham, and bought some spicy cheese which I thought would work really well in this recipe.

Heat a frying pan and spray with Fry Light, then place the tortilla in the pan. Place the ham and cheese on top - you only need to cover one side of the tortilla with the cheese. Fold in half and cook for a few minutes, then carefully turn over and cook on the other side.

Slice into half to serve. You can see the melted cheese oozing out here - delicious!

I'm sending this to Alphabakes, the challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter she has chosen is Q.

As I was using up ingredients before I went on holiday this is perfect for the Kitchen Clearout challenge, hosted by Madhouse Family Reviews.

For the same reason I'm sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge, hosted by Elizabeth's Kitchen...

.. and Credit Crunch Munch, hosted by Baking Queen74, on behalf of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla of Fab Food 4 All.

 

The theme for this month's Tea Time Treats is sandwiches, rolls and wraps. Tortillas are used more commonly as wraps but a quesadilla is basically a toasted sandwich. The challenge is hosted by Jane at the Hedgecombers and Karen at Lavender and Lovage.