`Thick, unctuous and full of flavour, it is serious, winter-warming food. No first-course nonsense here. Open a few bottles of good claret, roll up your sleves and dig in," advises Henry Harris (chef at the Fifth Floor Restaurant in London's Harvey Nichols and author of the Fifth Floor Cookbook).
What is it about stews that makes men such as Harris and myself, and countless others - become all macho and get-stuck-in-my-boy when we talk about stews? Women don't really understand this stew thing, although I know many fine women cooks who make fine stews. They don't understand why guys like Henry Harris get all emotional and passionate about . . . stew.
But think of the roll-call of stews - they are some of the superstars of cooking: daube of beef; boeuf bourguignonne; coq au vin (made with a good male bird); the Italian classics such as beef with rosemary or the brilliant ossobuco. Think of the lovely stews made with veal, such as the classic recipe for blanquette featured below, and of how the technique of stewing can make delicious dishes with vegetables.
And then there's Henry Harris's onglet, a cut of meat stewed with mushrooms, shallots and red wine which is an incredibly delicious concoction. I have cooked many things from Harris's book since it appeared late last year, and all have been successful. But this stew is something else altogether.
The only obstacle to cooking this dish is getting your hands on what the French call onglet, which is what we know as skirt. Skirt is a small section of internal muscle in a beef animal which lies inside the flank and the rump, and Henry Harris states "butchers tend to hang on to it for themselves". Perhaps they do, and you will certainly have to ask your friendly butcher for it specially, as it's not a cut that is ever displayed. Skirt must be cooked either very quickly, or very slowly over a low heat, as here. I like the idea of serving the onglet with macaroni, but personally incline to a fluffy mash as the perfect partner.
The Fifth Floor Cookbook is published by 4th Estate, price £25 in UK
Onglet Stewed with Mushrooms, Shallots and Red Wine
2 kg onglet (thick skirt) trimmed and trimmings reserved
Plain flour Oil for frying 1 glass port
100g pancetta, cut into lardons
100g back fat, cut into small cubes
500g button mushrooms
500g shallots 1 teaspoon tomato puree
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 bottle robust red wine 1 litre beef stock 1 teaspoon redcurrant jelly 1 bay leaf Preheat the oven to 170C/ 350 F/gas mark 3.
Cut the meat into 4 cm cubes and roll lightly in seasoned flour. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the meat in small batches until nicely browned. Transfer to a casserole. Deglaze the frying pan with the port and add the result to the casserole. Gently fry the pancetta and back fat until lightly coloured. Transfer to the casserole using a slotted spoon. Saute the button mushrooms and shallots in batches in the residual fat until nicely coloured and add to the casserole. Pour off any remaining fat, add the tomato puree and cook for five to 10 minutes until it's a nice, red-brown colour. Add the garlic and 30 seconds later, the red wine. Bring to the boil, simmer for five minutes and add to the casserole. Cover the meat with the beef stock and add the redcurrant jelly, bay leaf and meat trimmings tied up in a piece of muslin or J-cloth. Bring to the boil, skim, cover tightly and place in the oven. Cook for approximately 2 1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender, but firm. Remove the meat trimmings and discard.
Allow to cool, then transfer the casserole to the fridge and leave overnight.
Skim off the fat on the surface and discard. Reheat and serve with mash or baked macaroni.
Baked Macaroni
For eight people, blanch 500g of dried pasta until very al dente, transfer to a baking dish and ladle over enough gravy from the onglet to come about quarter way up the gratin dish. Pour over about 150 ml of whipping cream, season and mix well.
Grate over a light coating of Gruyere and bake until bubbling.
But stews don't always need meat, as this inspiring recipe from the food writer Annie Bell demonstrates. What this shows is how the defining principle of a stew is to bring flavours together, and yet to leave the individual ingredients tasting distinctly of themselves. Like every stew, it is even better the following day and, despite the extensive list of ingredients, it is easy to prepare. I leave out the raisins, but if you like a slightly sweet note then do add them.
Seven-Vegetable Tagine
"The choice and quantity of vegetables is movable, the main thing being to use the blend of spices specified in the first list of ingredients - these characterise the dish."
Serves 6
Aromatics:
85g (3oz) unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon turmeric 25 saffron filaments 1 heaped teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 8 sprigs of coriander, tied into a bundle
8 sprigs of flat-leaved parsley, tied into a bundle
75g (2oz) raisins
Vegetables:
500g (1lb 2oz) carrots 325g (11oz) parsnips 325g (11oz) baby onions
325g (11oz) pattypan squashes, or small courgettes 1 cauliflower 700g (1lb 9oz) tomatoes, skinned and chopped 1 420g (14oz) tin chickpeas 285g (10oz) young, frozen broad beans 1 teaspoon harissa
Prepare all the vegetables and have them ready - peel the carrots and parsnips and cut into chunky batons, peel the onions, trim the squashes, cut the cauliflower into florets.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the spices, seasoning, herbs and raisins. Stir around and then add the carrots, parsnips, onions and tomato.
Leave to sweat for a few minutes, add 900ml (1 1/2 pints) of water, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes in total, adding the pattypans and cauliflower six minutes before the end. You can prepare it to this point in advance.
Add the chickpeas and broad beans and heat until the broad beans are cooked through: adjust the seasoning. Lastly, blend 150 ml (5 fl oz) of the cooking liquor with the harissa and serve this separately at the table - it is very hot, so spoon it over the casserole by the teaspoon.
Veal takes to stewing like ducks take to water, and here is one of the all-time classics. Richard Olney enriches this blanquette with cream and egg yolks. It is rich, and delicious.
Humanely reared veal is quite easy to source, particularly in rural areas, where it is sometimes labelled "baby beef".
Blanquette of Veal
1kg breast or rib tips of veal, cut into 2 cm slices 175g small button mushrooms, trimmed and washed
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice 4 tablespoons water 75g butter Salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 medium-sized carrots, scraped and cut into 2.5 cm lengths 2 medium-sized onions, peeled, 1 stuck with clove
Thyme or mixed herbs 1 bouquet garni of parsley, 1 small stick celery and 1 bay leaf 20 young onions 1 tablespoon flour 5 tablespoons double cream 3 egg yolks Freshly ground nutmeg Chopped parsley
Combine the mushrooms with most of the lemon juice, the water, 15g (1/2 oz) of the butter, some salt and pepper, and boil them in a covered pan for one minute.
Arrange the pieces of meat in a heavy saucepan so that, without packing them in, they take up a minimum of space. Put the mushrooms aside; add their cooking liquid to the meat and enough cold water to cover by about 1 cm (1/2 inch). Add salt, bring to the boil and skim two or three times, adding small amounts of cold water each time the liquid returns to the boil.
Add the carrots and medium-sized onions, a large pinch of thyme or mixed herbs and the aromatic bouquet, making sure that all are submerged, and regulate the heat to maintain a bare simmer with the saucepan covered, for 11/2 hours.
Meanwhile, put the young onions with 30g (1oz) of the butter into a saucepan just large enough to hold the onions side by side in a single layer. Season the onions with salt and pepper, cover the pan, and stew them gently for about 15 minutes, tossing them from time to time. They should be soft and slightly yellowed but not browned.
Strain the contents of the saucepan containing the meat through a large sieve into a bowl. Pick out the two onions and the bouquet, and discard them. Put the bowl of liquid aside. Return the meat and carrots to their saucepan. Add the mushrooms and the little onions, and put the pan aside, covered. Skim any fat from the surface of the liquid.
In another saucepan make the roux: melt the remaining 30g (1oz) butter over a low heat, add the flour, and cook for about one minute, stirring regularly without allowing the flour to brown. Pour in the cooking liquid from the meat all at once, whisking until it returns to the boil. Lower the heat to maintain a simmer, with the saucepan uncovered. Over a period of about 20 minutes, skim off the light, fatty skin that forms repeatedly on the surface and pour the resulting, lightly thickened sauce over the meat and its vegetable garnish. Leave to simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes.
Mix together in a bowl the cream and egg yolks. Add a little pepper and very little nutmeg. Slowly stir in a ladleful of the sauce. Then, away from the heat, stir this mixture into the stew. Return the saucepan to a medium-low heat, stirring constantly until the sauce is only thick enough to coat a spoon lightly; it must not approach the boil or it will curdle. Add a few drops of lemon juice; taste and add more if necessary. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with rice.