Georgia: I think that Jamie’s first books seem a lifetime ago. So much has happened in food and our lives. I’ve slightly moved on and forgotten some of those recipes, except for this one which we still do regularly. This recipe is low effort, high impact food. It looks great, especially when you cut it open in the middle and yet you can prepare it hours beforehand and have it all ready and it takes just half an hour to do.
Want to make this yourself? The recipe can be found on MummyPages Ireland here.
Andrew (12): Yum! This is nice!
Maureen (having not tasted it yet): Are you sure you’re my son? This is nothing but beef stew with a pastry lid on top, and you know that beef stew is one of the few foods that I don’t like at all.
Tim: See? Andrew likes it. It’s just like a Goddard’s Pie, which we love. Yum. This is nothing but win.
Maureen (now having had some): Wow. This is surprisingly nice. It’s still just beef stew with a pastry lid, but it is very good.
Jen: That was an epic meal! Epic beef!
Kirstin: That was bloody good, that was. We cook this every New Year’s. I usually make gravlax too, but none tonight, again using a Nigella recipe. I even found the Ella’s hand drawn menu for last year’s celebration. Oh how I love this book.
Tom: Well, I can’t believe how little you have to do to cook that. You just bung the beef in the oven for a couple of hours. You didn’t even season it, right?
Kirstin: No, I didn’t. Should I have?
Tom: And the outside was all crunchy and charred, while the inside was wonderfully rare. It was great!
Andrew (12): I like this very much. I can’t fault it in any way.
Tim: How does it compare to Goddard’s Pies? (Editor’s Note: We faithfully buy Goddard’s Pies every weekend for lunch at Greenwich Market. We especially love the cheese and onion. Not a Cornish pasty, but delicious just the same.)
Andrew: Goddard’s Pies are very good, but these are also very good.
Nicholas (8): Goddard’s Pies are better.
Andrew: You’re digging your own grave!
Tim: It’s Halloween! He’s getting into the spirit of things by digging his own grave!
Maureen: I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I wasn’t sure about baking the skirt steak– I didn’t think it would cook completely– but it worked.
Tom: This beef is cooked perfectly.
Kirstin: It’s made me go and buy a new frying pan, but that’s another story…
Tom: I like the way the broth is a bit spicy as well.
Kirstin: Cinnamon, ginger and star anise.
Miles: Well the beef was chewy.
Tom: Is chewy good or bad?
Miles: It’s bad.
Tom: Why is that bad?
Miles: I dunno.
Tom: Well I thought it was spectacular. I wish I had poured the sauce onto my plate though. Can I help you with that beef, Miles?
Ella: Well it was kind of ok. I am not a fan of beef though.
Two things I need to admit immediately. First, I lost the notes I made for both dishes, so there’s no dialogue. Sorry. Second, we didn’t have them on the same night. But since this is the penultimate day of the month, I need to put them together for my last post on “Good Things to Eat.”
First, the beef with the chimmichurri. Since my parents had just arrived from the U.S. to visit us, I bought a beautiful rib joint from Drings. Look at the picture below if you don’t believe me when I say this was a thing of beauty. Sure, it was expensive, but worth it.
The chimmichurri was absolutely delicious. For those of you who don’t know, chimmichurri is a sauce used in Argentina with beef. It’s made up of parsley, olive oil, garlic, vinegar and a bunch of other things. When blended together, it makes a lovely green sauce. . We all loved it. I will definitely be making this again the next time we have steak.
Time taken: 59 minutes
Read the full recipe from the Jamie Oliver site here.
Tim: It’s delicious, but it took 59 minutes.
Maureen: That’s not so surprising. I got exhausted just reading the directions. I’m surprised I wasn’t quicker, though, because I even watched the related television episode so I’d know just what to do. Obviously, it didn’t work.
Tim: The Yorkshire Puddings are nice. Is it a different recipe?
Maureen: It’s really simple. It’s so simple, I didn’t think it would work. But it did! They’re really nice. What did everyone think?
Maureen: As you can see, I found the bresaola. It was not easy to find. I struck out at Drings (though they said they usually do have it), Waitrose, the Cooperative, Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Marks & Spencer.
Tim: Where did you find it?
Maureen: At the most excellent and our most favourite Italian delicatessen, Gennaro’s in Lewisham, of course. I knew they would have it. I went after I passed my Life in the UK Citizenship test. (Editor’s note: Please excuse the blatant self-promotion, but hey, can you tell us how many members there are in the Welsh General Assembly or how many members there are in cabinet?)
Tim: What do you think?
Maureen: It’s very nice, but it hardly qualifies as a recipe. I’d call it a shopping list. Gennaro had a great tip that Gordon didn’t include. He said to be sure to put lemon juice on the bresaola. So I put lemon juice on the beef and then again on the rocket once I put it on top. What did you think?
