From Cheap Cut of Beef To Culinary Triumph

1-38pm

I don’t often watch the cooking channel, but one day I did and this was the outcome. The chef (whose name I didn’t catch) used a cheap cut of meet and dolled it up to become an impressive culinary masterpiece which would be welcomed on any table across the world.

It all began with brisket. Brisket is a relatively inexpensive cut of meat taken from the shoulder of the cow. If it is a calf, the meat is called veal and is more expensive.  So this piece of brisket was probably about a kilogram in weight and it easily made 6 portions. It cost about R75…

Rolled Braised Beef with Mushroom and Spinach Filling

Ingredients

• 1kg brisket
• Half a punnet of mushrooms, sliced
• About 10-15 spinach leaves, with the stalks removed
• 2 onions, sliced
• Salt and pepper to season

Method

• Slice the brisket it in half, longways, but don’t cut right through at the end. You want one long piece of meat.
• Beat the open brisket with a mallet and then  put it to one side.
• Gently fry the mushrooms, then remove from the pan and put the spinach leaves into the pan until they have shrunk.
• Take the spinach out the pan and immediately add some more olive oil to the pan and add the onions. Leave the onions to brown – you want them to almost caramelize because you are going to use this to braise the meat…

• While the onions are cooking drain the spinach well and chop.
• Layer the spinach on the open brisket, followed by the mushrooms. If you want to zoot it up even further, you can put a few strips of raw bacon on the meat before the spinach and mushrooms go on…
• Starting at one end, carefully roll the meat and then using string, tie it in about 4 places.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Then brown it by adding it to the onions…

•  Once browned, cover it in foil and pop it in the oven, onions included…
• You want it on a low heat – about 150C and it can stay braising in the oven for 2- 3 hours.
• Take the foil off for the last half hour.

The result….

• It cuts perfectly and is absolutely delicious…

Serve with the lovely onion braise and a few side veggies.

Enjoy!

Isaiah 43:18-19

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

2014 is nearly over. 2015 is almost here.

Keep the smile going.

God bless you!

Helga xx 🙂