Slow cooked blade of Highland Tigh Dubh beef, wild mushroom ragù with buttery mashed potato and Ardtornish garden vegetables, cep jus

Slow cooked blade of beef

1 feather blade Court bouillon: 1 onion, peeled and chopped 1 carrot, peeled and sliced 1/2-inch thick 1 stalk of celery, peeled and sliced 1/2-inch thick 1 head of garlic, halved horizontally 3 sprigs parsley 3 sprigs thyme 1 bay leaf 10 peppercorns 2 tsp fennel seed 1 tsp coriander seed 1/2 cup white vinegar 2 tbsp coarse salt 2 quarts water

Method:

For the bouillon: Place all ingredients in medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes.

Place beef in court bouillon and cook for 4-5 hours until meat becomes tender.

Leave to cool until cold enough to handle, lift out beef and roll in cling film until about a size of a fillet. Wrap very tight, place in fridge to chill.

Wild mushroom ragù

1tbsp rapeseed oil 1 ½ tbsp butter 1 ¼ pounds wild mushrooms, sliced ¼ cup minced shallots 2 tbsp brandy 1 tbsp white wine vinegar ½ cup crème fraîche Salt and pepper

Method:

Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Stir in mushrooms with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until any liquid evaporates and mushrooms are light brown, 8-10 minutes. Add 1/2 tablespoon butter and shallots; cook, stirring, until mushrooms are caramelised and almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Drizzle in brandy and vinegar; cook until liquid evaporates, 1 minute. Stir in crème fraîche. Add salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low, cook until slightly thickened and mushrooms are tender, 10-15 minutes.

Buttery mashed potatoes

100g red rooster potatoes 25g butter 25ml cream

Method:

Peel potatoes and place them in a pot of cold salted water. Bring to boil and cook until tender. Put through drum sieve, heat butter and cream and beat through potatoes until smooth. Season.

Mushroom duxelle

100g button mushrooms, finely diced 2 cloves of garlic, puréed 25g thyme 1tbsp rapeseed oil 25ml Madeira 1 shallot, finely diced

Method:

Fry off shallot with rapeseed oil for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms, garlic and thyme, cook for another 15 minutes until dry. Add Madeira, cook out for another 2-3 minutes. Season.

Cauliflower purée

100g cauliflower 100ml double cream 50g butter 1tbsp maple syrup 1l water Salt & pepper

Method:

Put cream, butter, water, salt & pepper in pot, bring to boil, add cauliflower and cook until tender. Lift out cauliflower and place in blender, use some liquid from pot and blend till thick and smooth. Season and add maple syrup. Pass through sieve.

Cep jus

50g dried ceps 3kg veal bones, chopped 2 pigs trotters, cut into pieces 250ml olive oil 300g onion, peeled and chopped 1.25kg carrot, peeled and chopped 450g celery, washed and chopped 1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in half 120g tomato purée 800g button mushrooms, sliced 500ml Madeira 18lts boiling water 2 sprigs thyme 2 bay leaves

Method:

Put the water on to boil. Roast the veal bones and trotters in a hot oven in 90ml of the oil until golden brown, turning from time to time to brown evenly.

In a separate pan roast the onion, carrot, celery and garlic in 45ml of the oil until golden brown – or, at home, do this in a saucepan on top of the stove. Add the tomato purée to the vegetables. Stir in and return to the oven. Allow to gently colour but do not burn – keep stirring from time to time until the puree releases its natural oil.

In a separate pan colour the mushrooms in the remaining oil then deglaze with the Madeira. Boil to reduce down until the liquid is syrupy and the mushrooms a nice brown colour.

Check the water on the boil, be careful not to boil too long. When the veal bones are brown, this can take anywhere up to 1½ hours in a small oven, tip them into the boiling water.

Add the vegetables and syrupy mushrooms. Return to the boil and skim.

Set to simmer (99.7°C) Cook for 8 hours, skimming and cleaning as needed.

Proper observation and proper simmering will result in less reduction during cooking. Top up with boiling water if needed.

Pass through a fine sieve into a tall pan and reduce by half slowly – or if it is late in the day, chill it down and put into the fridge. The next day scrape any fat from the surface, reheat and reduce to required strength. Pass through a fine muslin and chill.

To finish the sauce finely dice onion, fry onions until golden brown add thyme leaves then reduce. Add the beef stock and reduce until it coats the back of the spoon. Soak ceps in boiling water, when soft sliced through to finish jus.

Garden vegetables

Carrots Celeriac Turnip Mushrooms

Method:

Neatly dice all the vegetables, roast with thyme, garlic and rapeseed oil. Pan-fry mushrooms until golden and then mix together. Season.

Bacon crisp:

1 rasher of streaky bacon baked between 2 trays until crispy, approximately 20 minutes at 180ºC.