Braised Beef with Onions, Rich Gravy & Suet Crust Pastry

Main courseServes 4

# Heat a large casserole pan and add a little oil. Flour the pieces of steak in seasoned flour and then brown them in the casserole pan. Remove from pan once browned. # Add the sliced carrots and onion to the pan and allow to sweat for a few minutes until the onion is soft. Pour in the red wine and scrape up any sticky bits on the bottom of the pan. # Return the browned meat, season add the stock, Soy & Worcester sauce. Bring the pan to the boil, cover and put in an oven set at 180ºC for 30 minutes then reduce the temperature to 150ºC, and leave to cook for another hour or so until the meat is tender. # To make the pastry, simply combine the flour, suet and salt with a little water in a bowl, until you have workable dough. On a floured surface roll this out into a nice big disk that will fit over the stew (not too thin). # Place the pastry crust on top of the stew in the casserole pot, return to a hot oven (200ºC) for 15 minutes, or until golden and the gravy starts to bubble through. # Delicious served with a baked jacket potato and some seasonal vegetables.

Black Sheep Brewery Liver and Bacon

Main courseServes 4

Bring the potatoes to boil and simmer for around 25- 30 minutes. When cooked the potatoes should start to break up, so check by using a fork. Drain the potatoes in a colander and turn back into the pan and dry out over a little heat, to take off any excess water. In a small pan or microwaveable dish, put the butter and a drop of milk or cream, then heat and melt together and add this to the potatoes. Season and mash the potatoes. You can add some chopped fresh sage or parsley at this point. To make the gravy, which can be made in advance, put the beef/lamb bones in a baking tray with the vegetables all chopped up and smother in the tomato paste/purée. Roast in the oven at 200ºC for around 45 minutes until the bones are brown and tomato paste caramelised. Drain any fat off the bones and put in to a heavy and deep pan or casserole dish with the vegetables, two bottles of Black Sheep ale or Riggwelter, a pint of water and a table spoon of garlic purée. Bring to a boil on high heat and skim off any impurities, then turn down heat and simmer for around two hours until its reduced by half. Then thicken with a little corn starch and pass through a sieve into a jug and leave to one side. Dispose of the bones and vegetables and wash the pan. Return to medium heat and add a few drops of sunflower oil or rape seed oil with two thinly sliced onions, moving them around until caramelised. Drain off any oil and then add the gravy and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and a couple or dashes of Worcestershire or Yorkshire sauce, if you wish to add a kick. Pan fry the liver to your required taste and finish with a couple rashers of crisp baked streaky bacon/pancetta. Alternatively, the bacon/pancetta can be baked for 15 minutes in a hot oven until crispy, then left to go cold and blended to a crumb and sprinkled over the liver after cooking it. Serve with the mashed potatoes and gravy.

HERB CRUSTED LOCAL HARE, PIE, SAUSAGE AND MASH from the Cleveland Tontine

Serves 4

*Herb Bread Crumbs* – Place all ingredients in a blender until fine *Loin of Hare* – Preheat the oven to 180 degrees – Lay out a large piece of cling film and lay the pancetta slices overlapping on top – Place the 2 pieces of each loin on the pancetta with the narrow ends facing to the middle – Roll the loins into a cylinder and secure the ends – Slice the wrapped loin into 4 pieces and, leaving the cling film on, pan fry in a hot pan with a knob of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil until sealed and golden brown. – Place in the oven for 4 mins – Remove from oven and allow to rest for 8 mins – Sprinkle the crumb on the flat side of the loin *Hare Sausage* – Place the raw hare leg and the bacon in a food processor and blend – Add all the other ingredients and mix well – Place the mix in a piping bag and cut off the end – Push the end of the sausage skin over the end of the bag and then pipe the mix into the skin – Twist the sausage every 4cm to make small sausages – Chill for 1 hour and then cut into individual sausages – Grill until golden brown *Braised Hare Leg* – Fry the hare legs in butter until golden brown – Fry all the vegetables until golden brown – Put the hare legs and vegetables together in the same pan, add the wine and cook until liquid is reduced by half – Add the gravy and the water – Simmer for 2 hours or until the leg meat comes off the bone with ease – Strain the liquid from the pan and reduce to a sauce consistency – Pick the meat off the legs and add to the sauce – Place in the pasty case and top with mashed potato Place the loin, sausage and pie together on a plate and drizzle with any remaining sauce. Serve with honey roasted turnips.