Braised Beef Feather Blade & Mushroom Ravioli

Mon, 15 April 2019

For the beef:

1kg beef feather blade

Sea salt and black pepper to season

200ml red wine

900ml beef stock

2 good sprigs of rosemary and thyme

2 small onions

4tbsp olive oil

Red wine jus

For the ravioli:

1 shallot, diced

500g mixed mushrooms, roughly chopped

2tbsp olive oil

200ml Madeira wine (optional)

100ml fresh cream

200g chicken mince

Fresh pasta dough

Egg yolk, beaten

 

For the potato fondant:

2 Maris Pipers, peeled

300ml chicken stock

100g butter

To serve:

Carrot and star anise purée

 

Method

1.      Preheat the oven to 150ºC, 325ºF, Gas Mark 3. Place the beef feather blade into a large casserole dish. Season it well with salt and pepper, then add in the red wine, stock and herbs. Cover completely with tinfoil, making sure to seal all around so no steam can escape. Allow to slow cook in the oven for 2hr.

2.      When the beef is cooked, remove from the oven and cool slightly. Shred it into pieces on a double layer of cling film, removing any fat, and form into a sausage shape in the cling film. Squeeze and roll it so it holds the perfect shape. I like the beef to be around the same width as a medium-sized fillet steak. But it’s entirely up to you what size you want it. You can control the size by squeezing in both ends of the cling film to make it thicker. Place the meat in the fridge for a minimum of 3hr, but preferably overnight, to firm up.

3.      To make the ravioli, first cook the shallot and mushrooms in the olive oil until softened and coloured beautifully. Flambé the vegetables with the wine (if using), then add the cream. To flambé you can either tip the pan over your gas flame, or light a match over the pan. This basically cooks off the alcohol. Remove from the heat and then, in a bowl, mix the cooked mushroom mixture into the chicken mince and season with salt and pepper.

4.      Roll the mixture into balls around the same size as half a table-tennis ball. Chill in the fridge while you roll out your pasta. Roll out the pasta with a pasta machine, or, if you don’t have one, a rolling pin. For this recipe you will need a long thin strip that you can see your hand through. With a 7cm round cutter, cut out 12–16 rounds of pasta, depending on how many people you are serving. Place one ball of the mixture into the centre of one round of pasta, then brush around the outside of the pasta lightly with the egg yolk. Place a second round on top and seal around the edge of the ravioli, making sure there are no air pockets. Repeat until you have 6–8 ravioli.

5.      Cook the ravioli for 3–4min in boiling water until both the pasta and filling are just cooked through. Refresh in iced water and place on a plate with damp kitchen paper until needed. To reheat, just pop them back into boiling water for 1min.

6.      To make the potato fondant, use an apple corer to cut out cylinders of potato. Cut the cylinders into small, equal portions, about 2cm in height. Add the stock and butter to a pan over a medium heat and cook the cylinders on a simmer until softened – keep an eye on them to ensure they don’t become too mushy. Once cooked, remove from the liquid to fry with the beef later.

7.      To make the burnt onion, preheat the oven to 180ºC, 400ºF, Gas Mark 6. Cut the onions in half, leaving the skins on. Add 2tbsp of olive oil to a really hot frying pan and fry the onions until they are burnt on the side you’ve faced down over a very high heat. Now place them into the oven for 3 minutes, then set aside to cool. Once cooled, peel out the individual layers carefully, discarding the skin.

8.      To prepare the beef, once it is nicely chilled slice it into portions. Season each portion and fry each side over a high heat, along with the potato cylinders, in an ovenproof frying pan in 2tbsp of olive oil until both the beef and potatoes are golden. Once cooked, set the potato aside and keep warm until you are ready to plate.

9.      Spoon 2–3tbsp of the red wine jus over the beef in the frying pan and heat gently in the oven for 10min, basting the meat with the jus to glaze. Serve the ravioli on top of the beef  with a carrot and star anaise purée.