Last night I wrote about a Maggie Beer inspired citrus marinade for slow cooked beef, which I mixed up and placed in the fridge overnight. I’m so glad that I took Maggie’s advice on the extended marinating time. It is worth starting this dish a day ahead because really, all the first stage involves is popping the marinade ingredients into a bowl, covering and placing in the fridge. You could do this just before turning in for the night. So, this afternoon when I started to brown the chunky pieces of beef chuck steak in my Le Creuset pan, the fresh aromas of orange, rosemary, and thyme completely filled my kitchen and drew my children downstairs, noses twitching and  asking what I was making for dinner.

I had two kilograms of beef chuck and so I seared this in four batches, adding a little of the olive oil from the marinade in between to prevent everything sticking to the pan and to create a slight crust on the outside of each piece of meat. I also sprinkled sea salt to taste and half a tablespoon of plain flour over EACH batch of browning beef which would in effect thicken the overall dish during the long, slow oven based cooking process. Also add to the pan as many of the fresh herbs and citrus rind from the marinade as this will further enhance the flavour of the finished dish.

Once all the beef had been browned, I removed it to a clean bowl and then added a splash more olive oil to my cast iron pan along with the following vegetables:

8 baby carrots – I stumbled across a bag of the most vibrant orange sweet baby carrots in Coles supermarket and simply washed half the contents and then halved each
carrot lengthwise for this dish. My children munched on the remaining raw carrots so just as well I didn’t need the lot!
1 small leek – finely sliced into rings.
1 medium brown onion – also finely diced.
2 cloves of crushed garlic.
1 long stick of celery, peeled to remove the stringy bits and finely diced.

I added the beef back to the cast iron pan along with 500 mls of chicken stock and stirred until combined. After placing the lid onto my pan, I put the it into a preheated oven at 150 degrees fan forced and left it to cook for 3 hours.

I had never considered combining orange with beef but gosh! What a fantastically fresh flavoured combination and such tender, melt in the mouth beef. A “must do again” recipe. This would be an ideal dish to serve for a crowd as it pretty much cooks itself which cuts down on preparation time and has the benefit of scenting the house with inviting aromas.

 I served the Slow Cooked Beef with Citrus Marinade with velvety polenta which I had attempted to make in the style of my late paternal grandmother Baba Maga. Unfortunately I did not have a recipe directly from her for this dish which is one that she must have made time and time again for her large family. I urge every keen home cook who has family recipes from respected relatives to record them on paper so that they may be passed down to subsequent generations.

My polenta was creamy and fluffy and delicious, because I used full cream milk rather than water, along with mashed boiled potatoes, sharp feta cheese and a finishing dollop of yoghurt. However, I seem to recall my Baba Maga’s version having more of a cheesy bite and robustness – I’m sure it’s because her polenta included home made cheese, farm fresh milk and stone ground corn meal all made with her own nimble hands.

Velvety Potato Polenta to generously serve 8 people

Ingredients
3 medium potatoes – boil these first and mash using a potato masher, but no butter.
1.25 litres full cream milk
1 heaped teaspoon sea salt
250 g instant polenta – this is available from most major supermarkets or speciality grocers.
200 g Greek or Bulgarian feta – it needs to have a sharp flavour.
Greek style yoghurt to serve

Bring the milk to the boil and then immediately reduce the heat. Using a whisk, stir in the salt and the polenta and continue to whisk for the 3 minutes it takes the corn meal to cook. Take care not to have the heat on high because the mixture will spit.

When ready, remove form the heat and whisk through the mashed potatoes. Fold through the feta which can be roughly crumbled.

Serve alongside the slow cooked beef with a dollop of yoghurt on top. Best eaten while still warm as the polenta will harden as it cools. This dish can also be eaten on its own.