The Hangry Chef

I took inspiration for this recipe from Donna Hay's slow cooked beef ragu pasta . I normally make my pasta sauces in large quantities (recipe here ), and freeze the portions. I thought I would try something different and do a traditional ragu with braised beef instead. I wanted to use brisket as I know from previous experience it has the perfect ratio of fat to meat for pulling and thought it would work well in a ragu (I was right!!) most online recipes called for chuck steak, which is great for dicing into stews but thats not exactly what I wanted. So thanks to Donna Hay, I've taken a few steps from her recipe and then put my own spin on it. Enjoy! You will need... (makes 6 generous serves) 1kg beef brisket, outer fat layer trimmed, sliced into four pieces plain flour for dusting 3 Tbs olive oil salt and pepper 1/4 cup diced pancetta or bacon 1 large brown onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 cup red wine 2 cups salt-reduced beef stock 2 400gr tins diced Ita...

I'm still practising with my slow cooker and butter chicken is next on my agenda! It was a bit easier to bring together then the Massaman beef that I cooked the week before but maybe thats just because I'm starting to get the hang of the slow cooker thing! You will need... 1.5kg chicken thighs, diced 1 lemon, juiced ¼ cup yoghurt 1 tblsp ginger, grated 4 tblsp vegetable oil 1 tsp salt 4 small onions, peeled  and diced 4-5 cloves garlic, crushed 400g tin crushed tomatoes 75g unsalted butter, chopped 1 cup thickened cream 2 sprigs chopped coriander leaves 1 tsp salt Spice mix: 4 tsp coriander seeds 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp garam masala 1 tsp cumin seeds 4 cardamom pods 4 cloves 1/2 tsp chilli powder 1 cinnamon quill Method... 1. Prepare the spice mix by g rinding all the spices (except the cinnamon quill) in a mortar and pestle until a powder. Remove cardamon husks. 2. Transfer to a bowl with  the lemon juice, ginger, garlic, yoghurt and 2...