Slow-cooked beef shin with asparagus and tarragon

Serves 4 You will need to start the marinade the day before you want to serve this.

For the beef

— oil, for cooking — 400g beef shin,

bone removed — 1 litre good-quality beef

stock (optional) — knob of butter

For the marinade

— 50g caster sugar — 25g table salt — 100ml red-wine vinegar — 5 black peppercorns — 2 garlic cloves — 1 shallot, finely sliced — juice of 1 lemon — 1 bay leaf — leaves from a few

sprigs of thyme — 1 tsp fennel seeds

For the asparagus purée

— 3 shallots, finely sliced — ½ garlic clove, finely sliced — oil, for cooking — 500ml white wine — 150ml chicken stock — 200g butter — 2 bunches green asparagus, tips removed and blanched for garnish, woody ends discarded, leaving middle sections

To serve

— four white asparagus tips, halved and pan-cooked for a little colour — few slices blanched

green asparagus — fresh tarragon leaves — garlic flowers The day before you want to serve, heat a little oil in a pan and add the beef shin, searing it on all sides until it is well-coloured all over. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and blend to a smooth mixture. Rub this all over the cooled beef and set in a bowl covered with cling film. Leave in the fridge to marinate overnight.

The next day, cook the beef shin in a sous vide machine for 12 hours at 80C. Alternatively, preheat the oven to 120-140C/gas mark ½-1 and place the beef in an ovenproof pan with the beef stock. Cover and cook in the oven for three-and-a-half hours, adding a splash of water if the pan is threatening to cook dry. The meat should be tender and ready to fall apart.

Set the meat aside and strain the cooking liquor into a saucepan. Boil to reduce it to a sauce consistency.

Meanwhile, pick the meat apart, shredding it finely and ensuring any sinews are removed.

Mix enough of the reduced cooking liquor into the shredded meat to bind it together (reserve the rest) then roll the mixture into a neat sausage shape and wrap it tightly in cling film. Set in the fridge to firm up and for the shape to hold.

Meanwhile, prepare the asparagus. Sweat the shallots and garlic in a little oil in a heavy-bottomed pan.add the white wine, bring to the boil and continue to boil until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the stock, bring to the boil and reduce again by half.

In a separate pan melt the butter and heat until light golden brown (this will give it a nutty flavour), then pass it through muslin or a clean J-cloth. Add to the shallot pan and bring back to the boil. Peel any tough bits from the topped and tailed asparagus stalks and add both stalks and peel to the shallot pan. Bring back to the boil then remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before blending to a smooth purée. Transfer to a bowl set over iced water, cooling the purée quickly. Season to taste.

To serve, preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Remove the cling film from the beef and slice it into four thick portions. Set them in an ovenproof pan with a knob of butter and the remaining cooking liquor and place in the hot oven for six minutes, basting every two minutes to glaze the portions.

Plate up the beef with some of the asparagus purée, the blanched green tips and the rest of the garnishes, and serve immediately.