Cowboy Beans!

Pair with The Duke 2009.

This bean dish hails from the west of the US, with added Botobolar touches, and is often served along side a thick juicy steak or bbqued ribs. However they can be a meal in their own right accompanied by savoury corn bread, leafy salad and a glass of the Duke.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams rind-less bacon
• 150 grms mince beef
• 1 leeks thinly sliced
• 1 cup onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 400 grm tin of Kidney Beans
• 1 400 grm tin of Chick Peas
• 1 400 grm tin of cannellini beans

Mix together the following and set aside:

• ½ cup tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tblsp prepared mustard
• 2 tblsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tblsp sweet chilli
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp salt
• sprig of rosemary chopped
• 2 chopped bird’s eye chillies

In large pot brown bacon, add, onion, garlic and saute until translucent.

Stir in beans with liquid from tins and blended sauce,  cook over medium heat until flavours have blended and liquid reduced. Serve immediately with a glass of “The Duke”.  Beans can be refrigerated.  I tried this with dry bean and even with soaking failed miserably! Of course this recipe can be made without the meat for vegetarian consumption.

Corn Bread Muffins

Paul Prudhomme is a famous US chef who hails from Louisiana, and a champion of Cajun cuisine, his corn bread recipe is one of my favourites which can be made sweet or savoury.

Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen copywrite 1984

• 1 1/3 cups plain flour
• 2/3 cup cornmeal
• 2/3 cup sugar (optional)
• ½ cup corn flower
• 5 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 5 tblsp unsalted butter melted
• 1 egg beaten

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, cornflour baking powder, and salt. In another bowl combine the milk, butter and eggs, then add to dry ingredient mixture. Blend until just mixed and lumps are dissolved. Do not over beat.

Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes for the loaf pan and 25 minutes for the muffins.

Serve warm with the beans and The Duke!

Purchase The Duke 2009 here!

Why brisket you may ask?

Because it matches perfectly with our Rain Goddess Dry Red!

We were fortunate to purchase half an organic Wagyu beef from a local grower.  When presented with all the meat, enough to feed our bottomless pit appetite of a teenage son, we had to decide what to do with the various cuts one was not overly familiar with. Flipping through the cookbooks from my south western US heritage, has led me to concoct a basic recipe with flavours from this area. The following recipe will never feature on a ‘Master Chef’ program, but is perhaps an alternative for the family ‘taco night’. This variation, is best in a tortilla wrap, and doesn’t have to rely on a mediocre salt driven packet for flavour. If this seems to spicy just leave out the fresh chillies.

Brisket with Southwest Seasoning

Ingredients:

• Brisket off the bone trimmed by the butcher
• 3 good size cloves of garlic sliced for sticking in the meat
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons of Mexican chilli powder
• 1teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 2 Tablespoons oregano
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 medium onion sliced
• 400 grm can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 to 2 fresh chillies chopped – jalapeño or serano
• ½ cup Botobolar red wine
• Extra chopped onion and garlic cloves

For Serving:

• Flour or corn tortillas
• Chopped tomatoes
• Chopped cucumbers
• Shredded lettuce
• Shredded cheese
• Bunch of chopped coriander

Stud the brisket with garlic, grind together cumin, chilli powder, chilli flakes, oregano and salt in a mortar and pestle, and coat the meat in spice mixture. Set oven to 150, line a baking pan with tin foil.  Place the brisket in pan.  Mix together onions, tomatoes, fresh chilli, and wine pour over the meat so any layers are covered. Seal and pop in oven for 6 to 7 hours depending on the size of the brisket. When ready the meat will shred/slice easily, there will also be plenty of juice in the pan along with the tomatoes and onions.

Put this in a sauté pan along with shredded meat extra onions and garlic cook for a few minutes allowing the meat to absorb some of the moisture. Warm the tortillas according to packet directions. Serve at the table with chopped and shredded vegies and cheese so each individual can build their own wrap. Pour a glass of Merlot or R&B and enjoy.

This can also be served on top of rice with a side of veg, or used to fill a pie. Enjoy the forgotten but luscious flavours of a brisket!

For those of you not familiar with Wagyu cattle breed, it is a naturally marbled meat, which comes from being grass and not grain fed. It is tender and very flavourful. Our Wagyu beef was sourced from Rob Lennon’s Gundooee Organic farm, a family enterprise in Dunedoo, NSW. For more information on this delicious product email: rob@gundooeeorganics.com.au

You can purchase our Rain Goddess Dry Red here.

Duck Salad & Riesling!

When deciding what recipe to include for the Spring/Summer 2012 Bugle, it was easy. In September, at the biannual Go Grazing event, we served a delicious duck salad matched with The Fool Riesling Blend. Surprisingly easy to make, the recipe was produced by Mudgee’s latest new catering team ‘Mudgee Made’; they were able to source organic Muscovy Ducks locally and use oranges from their gardens. This can be varied to serve as a canapé during the festive season.

Asian Duck Salad – serves 4 as a main
1 Free Range duck
1 orange quartered
Salt
Orange rind
Chinese 5 spice
Star anise
Olive oil

Add quartered orange to boiling water, place duck in receptacle above, I used a colander, cover and steam duck for 2.5 hours. Steaming first in this manner allows the fat to come out of the duck. However save this dripping and water mixture as it will make an excellent soup base. When cooked through, the duck will begin to fall away from the bone. Set oven to 200 degrees. Remove duck from steamer, pat dry fill cavity with rind of orange rind & star anise, and rub Chinese 5 spice powder on skin along with some salt. Drizzle with olive oil. Roast in oven until skin has crisped up about ½ hour, baste with roasting juices periodically, and while duck is roasting prepare the salad.

Salad
finely slice or shred
¼ quarter red cabbage
2 carrots
1 red capsicum
1 red onion
1 bunch mint
Toss together with a bunch of fresh bean sprouts

When duck is cool enough to handle shred all meat and toss with the salad. Then toss through dressing.

Dressing
1cm piece of ginger grated
4 tblsp of vegetable oil
2 tblsp white vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
Juice of two limes
½ tsp castor sugar
Salt & pepper

Wonton Wrappers

To serve this as a canapé like we did at Go Grazing, place a single wonton wrapper in each space in a patty cake tray, brush with some oil and bake in a 160 degrees.

Get the 2012 Riesling here.