BBQ BEEF CHEEK & COLESLAW BURGERS

Cape Grim beef cheeks really are the best we've ever come across. Cape Grim Beef's cattle graze on the green pastures of Tasmania's north-western point, and represents some of the best of its type in Australia. It's also hormone free, antibiotic free, GMO free, British breed beef only and graded to the four highest MSA tenderness grades.



People often think of beef cheeks as a colder weather cut of meat but really, it can be used all year round.

This is an easy meal for when you need to feed a lot of people. I like to use fresh herbs in my coleslaw although I know that's not to everyone's liking. Sometimes I like to throw some fresh apple in the mix too!


Serves 6

BEEF CHEEKS
*4 x Cape Grim beef cheeks
500ml beef stock
*¾ bottle of NZ BBQ Peppercorn Sauce
TBSP Tomato Paste
TSP Dijon Mustard
1 onion sliced

COLESLAW
1/8 cabbage thinly sliced
1 large carrot grated lengthways
Half red onion, sliced thinly lengthways
Fresh coriander or dill (optional)
*1 tub d’Lish aioli
*Dash of Lirah Sweet Apple Vinegar


Place ingredients for beef cheeks into a slow cooker and cook on low setting for approx 8 hours. Remove cheeks from liquid. Place liquid into a saucepan on medium heat and reduce liquid by half. Place cheeks back into the reduced sauce and shred apart using two forks. Allow to cool slightly.

To make coleslaw, place vegetables in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix aioli with a good dash of the sweet apple vinegar, some salt & pepper and taste. Add more vinegar or salt & pepper if needed. It should have a good tang! When ready, mix through the vegetables.

Serve the beef mix & coleslaw on well buttered, soft hamburger buns with the remainder of the NZ BBQ & Peppercorn sauce on the side. 

*Available at Meat at Billy's

SLOW COOKED PORK BELLY IN MASTERSTOCK

This Masterstock from the Stock Merchant is a new favourite ingredient of mine. While it's probably simple enough to make yourself at home, in reality I usually just don't have the time.

Master Stock is traditionally used in Chinese cuisine to marinate, braise and poach meats including chicken, duck and pork. Well known chefs including Neil Perry and Kylie Kwong use Master Stock extensively in their cooking.

The Stock Merchant version is made by simmering their Free Range Chicken Stock with soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, a touch of sugar and eight different spices including star anise, mandarin peel, ginger, cassia bark and Sichuan pepper.

The result is an authentic and ready to use Master Stock, perfect for poultry, beef, pork or tofu.


SLOW COOKED PORK BELLY IN MASTERSTOCK
Serves 4

This recipe really is super easy to prepare and cook. 2.5 hours might sound like a long time but you'll be rewarded with a soft as marshmallow, rich flavoured pork dish that your dinner guests will just love! The greens make it healthy too. Obviously.

INGREDIENTS

1kg pork belly
500ml The Stock Merchant Free Range Masterstock
2 cups jasmine rice
2 bunches bok choy
2 finely chopped spring onions
diced fresh red chilli
handful of coriander leaves

METHOD

Preheat oven to 140 degrees

Place pork belly into a heavy based casserole dish. It needs to fit snuggly in the pot. Pour the masterstock in over the pork belly. It needs to cover the pork so add a little extra chicken stock or water so it is just submerged in liquid. Cook for 2.5 hours.

While pork is cooking, prepare the rice and vegetables.

Serve the pork and vegetables on the rice and garnish with spring onions, chilli & coriander.

FRESH THYME & VERJUICE ROAST CHICKEN WITH DUCK FAT POTATOES

Who doesn't love a good ol' roast chook? It's comfort food at its best. The beauty of it is that really, it's like a blank canvas. Chicken loves being cooked with a multitude of different flavours so you can use almost any fresh herb to change it up a little and make it different each time if you want to.

This will be the first of many roast chook recipes we'll post because there are so many different ways to do it. This method is fairly fool proof and of course the exact cooking times will also differ depending on the exact size of your bird and also your oven.

How will you know if it's cooked? My mum taught me to pierce the skin down near the thigh joint and if the juices run clear, then it's cooked. Be sure to catch all of the juices though.

Another fool proof way is to invest in a thermometer. The $10-$20 is a clever investment in my opinion. It takes all of the guess work out and you'll never ruin a fantastice piece of meat again. This way you won't lose any of the juices either. Measure the temperature of the thigh, close to the bone. There are differing opinions on this (just google and you'll see what I mean) but you want it to be at around 72-75 degrees according to health regulations. Maggie Beer, bless her, likes her chook cooked to no more than 68 degrees. Heston Blumenthal reckons 60 degrees is enough! See what I mean... It's confusing.

INGREDIENTS

1 x Dakota Vale Farm free range chook* (approx 1.6-2kg)
verjuice
duck fat
olive oil
fresh thyme
4 large potatoes
bunch of asparagus
8 Swiss Brown mushrooms

For the gravy
 20ml dry white wine
 250ml chicken stock
 1 tsp Dijon mustard (optional)
 1 sprig of thyme

Method:

Remove chicken from fridge 30 mins before cooking. Preheat oven to 220 degrees. 
Peel, cut into required size and par boil potatoes (half cook). Drain and leave to dry. 

Place chicken in a roasting pan place a few sprigs of thyme into the cavity and then drizzle a little olive oil & verjuice, salt & pepper in there as well. Place a few sprigs of thyme between the leg & wing bones. Rub the outside of chicken with olive oil then drizzle verjuice all over the bird & season with salt & pepper.  Place chicken in the oven and reduce heat to 180 degrees. Cook for 1 hour & 20 mins. Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 15 mins before serving.

The potatoes require approx 1 hour cooking time. Heat 2 tbsp duck fat in a roasting tray. Coat potatoes in heated duck fat, season liberally with salt & pepper and roast until golden & crunchy, turning once or twice during cooking.

Grill asparagus on a medium heat with olive oil & a dash of verjuice. Sautée mushrooms in olive oil with some fresh thyme, salt & pepper.

If making the gravy...
Remove chicken from roasting pan to rest. Place pan on a medium-high heat. Add the white wine and stir, gently scraping the crunchy bits off the bottom of the pan (this is called deglazing). Add the chicken stock & some chopped thyme leaves and cook until liquid reduces to a sauce. Before serving, stir in the mustard if you're using it and warm through. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.