A play on a sweet crumble but consisting of shredded braised short ribs, caramelised onion puree and crispy bacon crumble topping. I tried a dish at one of my favourite restaurants and it was a duck crumble and thought this is such a cool idea. The only issue was not everyone like duck as it can be polarizing for some people so I decided to use beef for mine and it also is more readable available. This dish is one of the best dishes I have created for a while if I may say so myself. It may look complicated but its not, only 3 components. Give it ago and you won’t regret it.
Dust short ribs with flour and brown in slow cooker or pan. Remove and set aside.
Prepare vegetables and brown with butter in slow cooker or pan. Add the wine and reduce slightly. Stir in the crushed tomatoes. Add the short ribs back to the slow cooker and cook for 8 hours on low.
Meanwhile make the crumb by blitzing bread slices in a food processor into a fine crumb. Pour out onto a lined baking tray and spread out into one even layer.
Roast crumb in the oven until golden brown.
Dice bacon and cook in a frying pan. Once cooked drain on paper towels.
Add roasted crumb, bacon and thyme into a food processor and blitz to combine.
Season to taste and sore in an airtight container.
To make puree, add butter and oil into a pan. Add the onion and cook until softened but no colour. Cover with a lid and cook until golden, stirring occasionally. Once golden add some cream and mix through. Add to the jug of a stick blender and blitz. Add cream a bit at a time until smooth. Season to taste. Can be reheated.
Beef 'Crumble' with Caramelised Onion Puree
Braised beef short ribs:
4 beef short ribs
1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 flat mushroom, roughly chopped
½ capsicum, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 thyme sprigs
½ tin chopped tomatoes
¾ cups Red wine
1 cups beef stock
Salt and pepper
Flour, for dusting
25g butter
For braised short ribs, dust ribs with flour. Heat a casserole dish with a dash of oil over high heat. Add the beef cheeks and brown all over. Or alternatively do this in a slow cooker as mine will heat up enough to brown the meat and vegetables.
Remove short ribs from the pot and set aside on a plate. Add butter to the pot and turn down the heat to medium. Add all the vegetables, garlic and thyme and cook until they start to brown.
Pour in red wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to release all the caramelised bits and deglaze the pan, then reduce by half. Add the whole tin of tomatoes and mix to combine.
Add the short ribs back into the pot and cover with beef stock. Cook in 160c oven for 3 ½ hours with lid on or as I do on a slow cooker on low for 8 hours or until beef cheeks are soft and fall apart.
Drain some liquid out of the pot, about 1 cups into a medium saucepan and place over a medium heat. Simmer until the stock has reduced by half and thickens. Don’t worry if it doesn’t thicken, it sometimes doesn’t happen for me, just add 1 tbsp arrowroot to a ramekin with a dash of water and mix to form a slurry. Whisk into the sauce and cook until thickened.
Bacon Crumble topping:
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 slices stale bread
2 slices bacon , finely diced
Preheat oven to 180c .
Blitz bread into crumbs in a food processor. Pour out onto a lined baking tray. Drizzle with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper .
Bake breadcrumbs in the oven until golden brown and crispy, about 5 Minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a small frying pan and add bacon. Cook until bacon is golden, stirring ocasionally. Drain on paper towels and allow to cool .
Add toasted breadcrumbs, bacon, thyme and
Paprika to a food processor and blitz to combine.
Store in an airtight container.
Caramelized Onion Puree
4 brown onions, peel and sliced
50g butter
2 tbsp Olive oil
200- 250ml cream
Salt and pepper
Add butter and oil to a medium saucepan and place over a medium heat . Add in the onions and cook, stirring occasionally until softened by but no colour.
Cover with a lid and cook until golden brown, stirring every 3-5 minutes to prevent it from burning.
Once they are golden add 2 tbsp of the cream
And mix to combine.
Add mixture to a stick blender jug and blitz.
Add cream , a tablespoon at a time and blitz until smooth and not too thick;
Season to taste.
To serve , remove short ribs from the slow cooker and shred meat from the bone .
Add a dollop of puree onto the bottom of each plate.
Place a ring mould on top of the puree and add enough meat to full it. Carefully remove the mould and repeat with the remaining plates.
Top the meat with crumble topping on each
Plate. Add thicken sauce to a jug and serec at the table.
I also served, mine with some roast carrot pieces.
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