Everybody say "Hi!" to Flyboy!

So, I think winter is over. I think it lasted about to days, maximum. Which is kind of disappointing considering that I'm knitting a huge winter coat! Speaking of which, its coming along quite nicely, thank you. I now have the back, left front and left sleeve all knitted, all sewn up and ends tucked away. It is soooo heavy! Which is  unsurprising considering it has a kilo of yarn in it (give or take) so far. I've started the right front and I'm about half way up the body.

Amy and Totie went to their first funeral yesterday. Their Great-Grandma died late last week. She was their Dad's Grandma. I remember her from when Mike and I were married. She was a lovely lady. She had so many cats, all of whom ate different things, at different times. There was a time, too, that she brought up a baby starling. She was an amazing lady, and she will be sadly missed by her family.

Picture sourced from: http://www.thedearsurprise.com/?p=786

It is from this lady that my daughters are related to the Bounty mutineers. Her maiden name was Quintal, from her forebear Matthew Quintal. Matthew's two greatest claims to fame were that he was first sailor to be flogged on the trip to Tahiti, and then he scuttled the Bounty once the mutineers got to Pitcairn Island.

Flying High

If I may, I'd like to recommend a new blog to you. Its by my mate High. He's learning to fly. Its his first post ever, so be gentle.

Today's recipe is actually two recipes from Economy Gastronomy. Its an Allegra McEvedy recipe and it rocks the socks off the fox!

First of all you start with this:

Daube of Beef

 10 shallots
3 bay leaves
350g bacon chunks, chopped reasonably small
handful of thyme sprigs tied with string
5 cloves of garlic
olive oil
bottle of red wine
salt and pepper
2.5kg chuck steak or gravy beef
2 litres beef stock

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. You can use either your biggest roasting pan or if you have a casserole big enough use that. It nneds to be able to go on the stove top and in the oven.

Fry together shallots, bay leaves, bacon,thyme and garlic, for about 10 minuts until shallots are translucent. When it starts getting sticky on the bottom, pour in the bottle of wine and scrape up the yumminess of the bottom of the pan. Simmer and reduce for about 10 minutes.

Cut the meat into pieces and season well with salt and pepper. Lay the meat over the top of the wine soaked veg and cover with beef stock. Bring bak to the boil, cover and pop into the oven for about 2 hours. Check for tenderness, if the meat is nice and soft take the lid off and cook in the oven for a further hour.

Serve with colcannon (mashed spuds with chopped spring onion stirred through) and steamed cabbage. So yummy.

You need to reserve about 400g of the meat and 700ml of the cooking liquid for the next recipe.

Pappardelle with Slow Cooked Beef and Mushrooms

the reserved meat and liquid
300g mushrooms
250g dried pappardelle or any pasta you fancy
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 tbsp butter
40g Parmesan, finely grated

for the salsa
400g tomatoes
basil
flat leaf parsley
1.5 tsp red wine vinegar

Put the meat and cooking liquid in a saucepan with the mushrooms and boil for about 30 minutes to reduce the  until the sauce is thick and sticky.

Cook the pasta in a big pot of boiling, salted water with a dash of olive oil.

Stir the meat mixture through the cooked pasta with most of the parmesan and butter. Serve in bowls topped with the salsa and a further sprinkle of parmesan.

For the salsa
Chop the tomatoes, basil and parsley. Toss in a bowl with the red wine vinegar.