Category: beef

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Charlie Bigham’s Beef Short Rib Ragu with Rigatoni

Charlie Bigham’s Beef Short Rib Ragu with Rigatoni

I have been trying out a few of the Charlie Bigham’s meals. One I tried recently was the Beef Short Rib Ragu with Rigatoni. This was slow-cooked beef in a rich ragu with a fresh herb dressing, topped with Parmesan & served with rigatoni.

I followed the instructions on the packet, though I did cook for a shorter time than indicated, as my oven seems to work too well at times.

I did enjoy the beef ragu, which was intense and had a good flavour. Alas the pasta was slightly overcooked, I am not sure if it arrived like this, or whether my cooking had something to do with it.

I did like this meal, but I think it wouldn’t be one I would get again.

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Of course, I will have the Bento Box

Castle Park View in the rain with a rainbow

Heading out for lunch on a rather wet Tuesday, myself and my colleagues headed off to the Temple Quay street food market. There are fewer stalls on a Tuesday, but one of my favourites was there, She Sells Streetfood.

I went for my favourite bento box containing the Beef Donburi and the Tan Tan Udon. This was the same combination I had a few times now. As this was a bento box, as well as the Beef Donburi, the Tan Tan Udon came in a smaller cardboard bowl than if you ordered the full size version.

The Tan Tan Udon was udon noodles in a creamy sesame broth with spicy ground pork, Asian greens, spring onions, and crispy chilli.

Tan Tan Udon

This was a delight, the creamy smooth broth was brought to life with the pork, the greens, and the chilli added heat. One day I think I will go for the full size version, one day.

The Beef Donburi was slow cooked beef in an oriental sauce on top of sticky rice.

beef donburi

The beef was melt in your mouth tender and was delicious.

I do like this bento box, and I am not surprised that when it comes to choosing lunch, I will more often than not, head for this tasty, delicious bento box.

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Pasta Bolognaise

I do have a go to recipe when making bolognaise. It has an intense flavours of beef and tomato. One thing I have found is that when using tinned tomatoes and tomato purée that not all are equal and some have better flavour than others. I have to say that my experience with own brand versions haven’t passed the taste test. I usually now use Mutti finely chopped tomatoes when cooking this dish. It has the consistency and intensity of flavour I like when cooking bolognaise.

This version was trying something different, and it wasn’t just the different pasta.

This serves four people.

500g minced beef, I try and get 5% fat mince, otherwise the end result can be a bit greasy. If you do buy the mince with the higher fat content, I would suggest after browning the mince to drain some of the excess fat or oil from the pan before adding the vegetables.

Pancetta

Splash of olive oil

One onion, diced

Handful of mushrooms, chopped

Splash of red wine

Knorr chicken stock pot

Beef stock cube

Tin of Mutti finely chopped tomatoes

Mutti tomato purée

Garlic purée

I usually use a large pan with a lid, for cooking this dish. I heat the pan add the splash of olive oil and then the pancetta. Add the beef mince, and brown off the mince until it is all done. If you have excess fat in the pan then drain the cooked mince and discard the excess oil and fat, then add the mince back to the pan.

Add the onion. After a few minutes add the mushrooms.

Once the onion is soft and cooked, add the tin of tomatoes, the stock pot and stock cube, the garlic purée, tomato purée and the red wine.

Cook for at least 30 minutes on a low heat. The plan is for all the flavours to infuse and for the beef mince to be cooked and tender.

Serve with spaghetti or a pasta of your choice. Add freshly grated Parmesan to taste.

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Lunch at the Casa

I was in Amsterdam for a conference and was staying at the Hotel Casa which is close to Amstelstation.

After some meetings I was in the mood for some lunch, I chose the beef steak open sandwich, with caramelised onion, cheddar and pico de Gallo.

beef steak open sandwich

I certainly needed a knife and fork to eat this, The steak had an interesting flavour. It does appear to be a Dutch thing to add cheese to steak in their sandwiches. I enjoyed the pico de Gallo which added a nice element of freshness to the food. There was a generous portion of steak on the bread.

I thought it was just okay, nothing special. I think the flavour of the steak let the sandwich down.

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Bento Box

It’s no wonder sometimes when I go to Bristol and there is a street food market if She Sells Streetfood (was She Sells Sushi) is there I will go with a bento box. I enjoy the food and I think one of the reasons I like it is that it’s not a sandwich or a wrap.

This time, I went with a bento box containing the Beef Donburi and the Tan Tan Udon. This was the same combination I had before. As this was a bento box the Tan Tan Udon came in a smaller cardboard bowl than if you ordered the full size version, alongside was the Beef Donburi.

I’ve always enjoyed the Beef Donburi and this was delicious as usual. The beef was beautifully tender, full of flavour. It goes so well with the sticky rice. I do like the addition of the (new) cucumber salad. 

Last time I really enjoyed the Tan Tan Udon, so was looking forward to eating that again. The Tan Tan Udon was udon noodles in a creamy sesame broth with spicy ground pork, Asian greens and spring onions. It was excellent and delicious. The creamy broth was superb, full of flavour, thicker than a normal broth (hence the creamy). Nice noodles and the spicy ground pork just added to this one tasty bowl of food.

I do like this food.

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I will miss those hirata buns…

One of my favourite street food stalls in Bristol is She Sells Sushi and I was intrigued to hear that after years of trading, that Lisa is changing the name to She Sells Streetfood and was also changing the menu.

So, when I was working in Bristol I headed down to Finzel Reach to see what was available and to try something new. I nearly didn’t go, as there was downpour, and I did get quite soaked in the queue. The menu now has four items and no sushi! Also gone are the lovely hirata buns.

The four items consist of two favourites, Katsu curry and the Beef Donburi. The two new items are Loaded Katsu Fries and Tan Tan Udon noodles.

I went with a bento box containing the Beef Donburi and the new Tan Tan Udon.

The Tan Tan Udon was udon noodles in a creamy sesame broth with spicy ground pork, Asian greens and spring onions. As this was a bento box the Tan Tan Udon came in a smaller cardboard bowl than if you ordered the full size version. This was served alongside the Beef Donburi.

I’ve always enjoyed the Beef Donburi and this time was no exception. 

Beef Donburi

Delicious full flavoured tender beef in a delicious sauce served on fluffy rice. It was delicious.

I was intrigued by the Tan Tan Udon and I did wonder how good it was going to be! 

Tan Tan Udo

Well, it was excellent, just delicious. The creamy broth was superb, full of flavour, thicker than a normal broth (hence the creamy). Nice noodles and the spicy ground pork just added to this one tasty bowl of food. 

I was well impressed with the Tan Tan Udon, so much so, that next time I might just go with the full sized portion and forgo the bento box. I am not really a fan of loaded fries, so might try those in the future, but then again probably not. I am though a little saddened that the delicious hirata buns are no longer on the menu, I will miss those.

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It wasn’t perfection…

Drayton Court Hotel

One of the best roast dinners I have had was from the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I remember the first time I had their Sunday roast back in 2022. I said back then: This was probably one the best carvery meals I have ever had from a pub.

Though in April this year I had an even better version from the Drayton Court Hotel. It looked great and was delicious. 

The roast dinners at the Drayton Court Hotel are excellent and are a real treat. I have had a few over the years and enjoyed them all. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise that I ordered the Roast Sirloin of Beef. It was a fantastic looking plate of food.

So, a recent stay at the hotel on a Sunday I was looking forward to my roast dinner. As you can imagine I had quite high expectations about the food. Probably too high expectations.

This is what I got.

roast beef dinner

This is what I was expecting.

Roasted Sirloin of Beef

This was not perfection. I had eaten perfection back in April, this was nice, but nowhere near as good as the dish I had before. The beef was tasty, but wasn’t pink as advertised. The vegetables were delicious, the squash mash and cabbage were particularly good. The roast potatoes however had been standing around too long and had gone soft. I enjoyed the cauliflower cheese (served separately) and there was some really good gravy. The Yorkshire pudding, usually the crowning glory was, well a little flat.

For a roast dinner it was nice, but the problem I had I was comparing good to perfection, and in that case perfection will always win.

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What, no…

One of the best meals I have had in recent years has been the Sunday Roast from Drayton Court Hotel in London.

The roast dinners at the Drayton Court Hotel are excellent and are a real treat. I have had a few over the years and enjoyed them all. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise that I ordered the Roast Sirloin of Beef. It was a fantastic looking plate of food.

So, staying at the hotel on a Sunday I was really looking forward to a roast beef dinner. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I went to the bar to order my food that they had sold out… I would have to choose something else from the menu. As it was a Sunday they had a limited choice, as they usually serve roasts.

In the end I went with the braised beef & ale short crust pie with creamed potato & gravy. It was supposed to come with peas, but I got cabbage.

braised beef & ale short crust pie with creamed potato & gravy

It was a nice looking pie, the mash was smooth, and I enjoyed the cabbage. However, the gravy was awful, it had a weird taste, which I realised later was ash like. I couldn’t be bothered to complain, so had my pie and mash without gravy.

I think I was disappointed with the pie, as earlier in the week I had been to Cadbury Garden Centre and had a fantastic steak pie from Walter Smith Fine Foods who have a deli counter in the centre. The pie from Walter Smith was in a completely different league to the pie from the Drayton.

Overall I wasn’t that happy, no roast, and not a very good pie, and horrible gravy. I think that if this happens again, and there isn’t a decent choice on the menu, I will venture elsewhere for my dinner.

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Andalusian Beef

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2022 when I visited Amsterdam for a conference. Having spent a few days in Delft at a conference, and meetings in Utrecht I took the train back to Schiphol Airport where I had booked a hotel, the CitizenM, which is literally next door to the airport.

I wasn’t that impressed with the menu, but there weren’t many places to eat around the hotel. I went with the Andalusian Beef. This was described as slow cooked beef in a carrot and white bean stew. Served with oven baked potatoes and beef chorizo. Topped with our signature black olive crumble and parsley.

Andalusian Beef

The dish arrived and let’s just say I was not impressed. The stew was quite bland, and there wasn’t very much beef in there. The oven baked potatoes were cooked, but I wouldn’t have said they were cooked in the oven. The “signature black olive crumble” was not very good, it was driven black olive and some stale bread pieces. Not sure I would be boasting about that.

I ate it, but I was quite disappointed.

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Beef Carpaccio at 3 Brasseurs

Dunkirk

Last summer I was on a driving holiday to Europe. On the way back we stopped at Dunkerque for an overnight stay before our ferry and final drive home the following day.

The 3 Brasseurs restaurant was close to the hotel and had an extensive menu. I wasn’t that hungry and wanted something different so I went with the  beef carpaccio, which was dressed with pesto oil, capers, parmesan shavings, lemon, tomatoes, mozzarella, and rocket.

This was a very pretty plate of food. The beef was delicious, thinly sliced, and very fresh. I really enjoyed this dish.

Service was smooth and friendly and we had a lovely meal.