Beef shin hotpot, one of our favourite cosy warming dishes. The weather has started to get colder and i have been craving all the comforting autumn – winter meals. It was the perfect weekend dish to enjoy after a chilly morning walk through the woods.
Jump to RecipeShin of beef is such a flavourful cut of meat, it requires slow cooking, so a stew is perfect and always worth the wait.
This one was braised with red wine, stock, tomatoes and lots of herbs and then it was topped with a herby potato top and baked until golden and crispy.
Its such an easy dish to make, it just requires a little prep for the veg.
There is something i always find so comforting about meals like this, slow cooked warming meals remind me of the sort of dinners my nan would cook. They are the sort of dishes you can enjoy with your family.
As there is just two of us, we usually save any of the left over stew part of the dish and make a pasta sauce by heating it with some more tinned plum tomatoes.
Swaledale butchers review
I was asked by Swaledale online butchers to review their shop.
I have not shopped with many online butchers before. After reading their bio and seeing their use of native rare breed meat that have pasture on the dales, i was happy to try it out.
After discovering that traditional breeds are slower to mature and favour a grass and hay based diet, I was looking forward to tasting the quality of the meat.
It was so flavourful, in fact probably the best i have ever cooked with!!. Im not a big meat eater, but during the autumn and winter i do like to make stews, hotpots or slow cooked meat dishes like ragu.
The depth of flavour, even in a cheap cut like shin was incredible. My partner and i both commented on how amazing it was.
The smell of it cooking was different, it instantly had me travelling back in time to my great grandmothers kitchen, i think i owe that to the quality of the meat.
I also ordered a chicken, some smoked dry cured bacon and two rib eye steaks.
The order process is easy, you choose what you want from their website and then choose the delivery date. Then it gets delivered, sealed in a box with ice packs.
Each item is labelled and has information on it like grass fed, free range so you know what you are getting etc.
Their website has information on all the farmers they source their meet from and their stories.
They have built partnerships with farmers who share their ethos and passion for rare breed animals and environmentally sustainable practices. They also care about the welfare of the animals. That was an important factor for me in agreeing to this review.
The chickens are free range, herb-fed and are sourced from farmers who have a sixty-acre farm in North Yorkshire. They raise slow grown, free range chickens, hand-reared in small flocks with unlimited access to roam outside and exhibit their natural instincts.
I used the chicken with white wine, fennel, lemon and shallots. originally i was going to make one of our old favourites a Indian spiced roast chicken, but i wanted to keep the ingredients to a minimum so we could taste the flavour.
The herb based free range diet gave the chicken a beautiful, almost game like flavour it was delicious.
I cant wait to make another order, i think i will try the lamb next time, im excited to see that they also sell game. It will soon be the season for that. I love venison stew or ragu.
I was worried i wouldn’t be able to give a raving review, and was not sure how i would write this if the products didn’t impress, but i was truly blown away.
I have became a lot more conscious of meat consumption in recent years. I knew that beef production was one of the worst for the environment. I had already reduced the frequency i ate that and only purchase it when i can afford to buy it from local butchers who use sustainable farming practises. However I recently learnt more about how fast growing chickens bred in the uk are fed high soy diets.
The soy beans that the uk import for animal feed is from places like south America. Often it has been grown on deforested land because there is such a high demand.
I have been consciously trying to reduce the mileage of the food i consume, buying local when possible. It hadn’t occurred to me that the feed was being imported and contributing to deforestation, so the ethos of this company and the way they partner with farmers who care about sustainable farming processes, the welfare of the animal and the flavour of the meat was really great.
NOTE This is not a paid promotion, all opinions are my own. However i was given a voucher so i could make my first order.
Tips before you start
- You will need a lidded casserole pan to cook the stew in, i then find its easier to transfer the cooked stew into a baking dish before adding the potatoes, but that’s not essential.
- I like to use chianti when i cook beef, but any red wine will be fine.
- Use whole peeled plum tomatoes, i like the flavour, i crush them with my hands.
- Brown the meat in batches. The smaller you cut the chunks the less time it will need in the oven. smaller cubes will take 2 and a half to three hours, larger chunks can take 4 hours.
- Prep all your veg before you start cooking.
- Finely slice the onion and garlic and keep that separate from the rest as you will add that to the pan before the other veg.
- The leek was an added extra, i had one from the farm shop and decided to add it for extra flavour.
- Season as you go.
- I use 500 ml of stock to start with and then add more while its cooking. The liquid will reduce in the casserole dish while its in the oven so you will need to add about 500 ml more half way through, this can be stock or water.
Herby beef shin red wine hotpot
Equipment
- Lidded oven safe pot
- mandolin slicer
Ingredients
Braised beef shin stew
- 1 kg shin of beef cut into chunks
- 1 large brown onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 leek
- 3 carrots
- 2 celery sticks
- 125g chestnut mushrooms
- 250 ml red wine 1 cup
- 500 ml beef stock (to start you will need 500ml more liquid half way through braising so you can choose to use more stock or just use water)
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tin of peeled plum tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- salt and black pepper
- splash of balsamic vinegar optional
For the potato top
- 1 glove of garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil or butter
- 3 or 4 large potatoes
- salt and black pepper
- fresh thyme and rosemary
- parmesan
Instructions
To make the beef shin stew
- Preheat the oven to 160c
- Take the beef shin out of the fridge and cut into chunks, then leave to one side while you prep the veg
- Prep all the veg so you have it ready to add, keeping the onion and garlic in separate piles as we will add those first.Finely slice the onion and garlic and put to one side, then dice the carrot, leek, celery and slice the mushrooms and place in a bowl.
- In a large lidded casserole pan add a little oil. then add half the beef shin (as there is so much its best to colour it in batches), stirring occasionally until it starts to get a nice colour, about 3 minutes. then remove the first batch and place on a plate. continue this again with the second batch and remove it and add it with the rest, it will be added back in later.
- Add a little more oil and then fry off the onion, once it has started to colour add the garlic and Sautee for a minute before adding the bowl of chopped veg.
- Sautee the chopped veg until it starts to soften, then add the red wine to deglaze the pan.
- Add the tomato puree, and the tin tomatoes. i crush the plum tomatoes with my hands. its messy this way but its quick.
- Finally add 500ml beef stock, tie herbs and add those into the pot and season with salt and black pepper. return the browned beef shin.
- Place the lid on the pot and place in the oven for 3 hours (depending how small you cut the chunks of meat it can take longer). stir the stew every hour so it doesn't burn on the bottom. You will find that half way through cooking the liquid will have reduced and you will need to add more. Add 500ml stock or water and then continue cooking.
- The stew is ready when the meat falls apart. taste and season more if needed. i like to add a splash or balsamic vinegar.
- skim any impurities off the top and tip into a baking dish. turn the oven up to 180c
- Peel and thinly slice the potatoes with a mandolin. Add 2 tbsp of oil or butter in a pan and heat until its warm, (not boiling) then remove from the heat and add a clove of sliced garlic and a bunch of the herbs and mix. This gives the oil some flavour, it is an optional step.
- Toss the sliced potatoes in the oil or butter (you dont need to use all of it) so it coats them. take a slice of potato at a time and arrange them on top of the stew.
- season with salt and pepper and then grate over some parmesan cheese and add some more herbs.
- Bake for 45 minutes until the potatoes are tender. cover with foil if it starts to burn.
- Serve with what ever side dishes you fancy. We tend to have bread and some veg.
Dont fancy having potatoes on top?
Why not try topping it with cheese straws and creating a pie, like below, or some cheesy scone like dumplings.
Parmesan cheese straws
- I sheet of puff pastry
- 160g grated parmigiano reggiano parmesan plus more to add to the top
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp. thyme leaves
if you want to try it topped with cheese straws, grate 1 third of the parmesan on the work surface then roll out the puff pastry on top of it, then add half of what is left on one side and add salt and pepper and some thyme and fold the dough over then add the last of the parmesan on top and roll out a bit to make the cheese stick to the pastry, cut into strips and twist. use some of the off cuts to line the edge of the dish then place the twists across the top and press down then brush with a beaten egg. grate on some more parmesan and add some more salt and pepper and bake at 180c 350f for 40 minutes.
Topped with dumplings/scones with parmesan
- 350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 120g cold butter diced
- 130ml milk (plus more)
- 150g grated parmigiano reggiano parmesan plus more for top.
- salt, pepper
- splash of milk for brushing
- thyme
Rub together the butter and flour and baking powder then add the grated parmesan and mix then add some salt and pepper to season and add the milk and mix with a spoon, you want the mixture to be like a wet dough that you can form into balls to you may need to add a few tbsp. more milk.
flour your hands and roll into small balls and place on top of the stew. Brush the tops with milk and add some more parmesan and some thyme and sprinkle over some pepper and salt. Bake at 180c for 30 minutes.
