To celebrate St. Andrews Day, and Lorraine's birthday, James Tanner has made a Scottish feast of braised beef in whisky with neep gratin. A real winter warmer!
Ingredients
- 30 g1 oz plain flour
- Crushed sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 lean, thick braising steaks
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 12 shallots, peeled
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 100 g3½ oz smoked bacon lardons
- 1 bay leaf
- 100 ml3½ fl oz whisky
- 350 ml12¼ fl oz good beef stock
- 4-5 small turnips, peeled
- 250 ml8¾ fl oz whipping cream
- 2 sprigs thyme, picked
- Knob of butter
- Handful of grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
Method: How to make Braised beef in whisky with neep gratin
Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4.
Tip the flour into a mixing bowl and season with crushed sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the steaks and toss in the flour to coat.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a high heat and seal the steaks all over then put in a shallow casserole. Add the peeled shallots, garlic, bacon lardons and bay leaf to the used steak pan and fry for 3 minutes, until just starting to colour.
Next add the whisky and reduce by half. Add the beef stock, bring to a simmer and pour over the steaks in the casserole. Cover and braise in the preheated oven for two hours or until the steaks are tender. Finish the sauce with a knob of butter.
For the gratin, take the peeled turnips and slice very thinly (ideally on a mandolin), put in a bowl and mix with a ½ tablespoon of salt. Stand for 10 minutes to extract the water out of the turnips then bring the cream and thyme to a simmer.
Take the sliced turnip and put into a clean tea towel, ring out to remove the excess water then put in the cream pan and simmer gently, stirring occasionally until the turnips are tender and the cream is thickened. Place into an oven proof serving dish, sprinkle over the parmesan and place under a hot grill until crisp and brown.
To serve, put the steaks, braised shallots and bacon on serving plates and drizzle over some sauce. Sprinkle over the parsley and serve with the turnip gratin.
