Braised beef with polenta and wild garlic gremolata

| Serves 4 |

INGREDIENTS

For the braised beef

2 sticks celery, finely diced

1 carrot, finely diced

1 onion, finely diced

500g beef skirt, shin or cheek

1 tbsp tomato puree

Glass red wine

200ml beef or chicken stock

1 bay leaf

4 sprigs thyme

1/4 orange, rind only

1/4 lemon, rind only

For the polenta 

200g course-grained yellow cornmeal

1.4 litres water

1 tsp salt

25g parmesan 

15g butter, cubed

For the wild garlic gremolata 

15 leaves wild garlic 

1/2 lemon, zest only

1 tbsp olive oil

METHOD

Heat a casserole or heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat and add 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the celery, carrot and onion with a small pinch of salt. Give a good stir and turn the heat down to low, allowing them to sweat for around 25 minutes or until sweet and soft.

Meanwhile, remove any exterior sinew with a knife and season the beef with sea salt. Heat a frying pan over a high heat, just as it starts to smoke, add a splash of olive oil and the beef. Sear on both sides for about 3 minutes, trying not to move it around too much so it can nicely caramelise. Set aside.

Make a bouquet garni by tying the bay leaf, thyme and orange and lemon rind with some string.

Once the vegetables have softened, stir in the tomato puree and the beef, ensuring everything’s coated. After a minute or so, turn up the heat to high and add the red wine, allowing to cook off for about 2 minutes or when it’s just starting to reduce. Add just enough chicken stock to come halfway up the meat and bring to the boil. The liquid will reduce before the meat is fully cooked so you’ll need to add more later. Add the bouquet garni, making sure it’s submerged in the stock, and cook either on the lowest heat on the hob or in the oven at 150C for around 5 hours, or when the meat pulls away easily with the touch of a fork.

After about half an hour, check on the pot to check it’s still at a simmer. It should be very faintly bubbling. Adjust the temperature as needed.

Next prepare the wild garlic gremolata. If the leaves are young you can finely chop them after they’ve been washed. For maturer leaves, blanch the leaves for 10 seconds in boiling water and plunge into a bowl filled with iced water. Dry on kitchen paper and proceed to chop finely. Stir in the lemon zest and olive oil.

For the wet polenta, bring the salted water to a boil. Keeping it at a boil and with a whisk to hand, very slowly pour in the cornmeal in a steady stream, I do this by grabbing palmfuls at a time and allowing it to sift through my fingers until all the cornmeal is gone, whisking the whole time.

Turn down to a low heat and swap the whisk for a wooden spoon. Cook the polenta for around 45-50 minutes, stirring from around the sides and the bottom of the pan every 5 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, starting to form a single mass. Take off the heat and stir in the butter and parmesan.

When the beef is cooked, you should be able to shred the beef with two forks easily. Spoon the polenta into bowls or plates with the braised beef and gremolata over the top.