This week's Online Specials are available now and you will notice a fantastic offer on Brisket and Oxtail (just £15 for 1 Brisket and a pack of Oxtail). The inspiartion behind this offer came from a wonderful new recipe by our new chef Eddie Macdonald. A couple of us were in the test kitchen last week to taste this while the recipe was still in development stage and it was absolutely delicious!

Braised Beef Brisket

Serves 4

950g Beef Brisket
2 tbsp Olive oil
125g Carrots (finely diced)
125g Celery (finely diced)
125g Onions (finely diced)
125g Leeks (finely diced)
280ml Red Wine
300g Oxtail
600ml Beef Stock (approximately)
Whole Bulb Garlic- cut in half
2 Large Bay Leaves
8 Black Peppercorns
Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Gas 3, rinse the brisket under cold running water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Heat the oil in a casserole pan and sear the brisket on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add all the vegetables to the pan and colour lightly over a medium heat. Add the wine and cook for 1-2 minutes then return the brisket to the pan, add the oxtail, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns. Top up with the stock until it comes half way up the brisket, reserve any spare stock for later use. Cover with a well fitting lid and cook for 2¾ - 3 hours in the oven, check occasionally and add remaining stock if required to maintain the level of liquid.
To check if the brisket is ready use a meat fork and insert it into the thickest part of the meat, if the fork goes in and out easily, the brisket is ready. Remove the brisket and the oxtail from the cooking liquid and set aside to keep warm.

Reduce the sauce until thickened or alternatively dissolve 1tsp corn flour in 2 tsp water and add to the sauce and bring to the boil, season to taste with salt and pepper. Carve the meat and serve with the sauce.

Serve with creamy mashed potatoes or roast potatoes.

Click here to buy the Brisket and Oxtail box

Hi everyone Stefan here,

Well, how should I start? Another new product is now ready for its launch. The NEW Lasagne will be introduced today online and will be launched shortly after for our mail customers!

This product was a real challenge to realise as there are many ready to heat and serve lasagnes already available of the market and the aim was to create a lasagne which of course would stand out above the rest! The result is a lasagne which bursts with meat, and is based upon a traditional Italian recipe.

We had about 14 sample trails until we came to the result of the perfect balance of meat, pasta, béchamel sauce and cheese. Further to this the product can be cooked from frozen within 50 mins or from defrosted within 30mins (we do not recommend cooking in the microwave as the pasta sheets will dry out too much).

I am also very proud to say that we have managed to create a lasagne which in my opinion stands out way above its competitors for quality and flavour, but also competes with them for price at just £4 per lasagne.

I hope that many of you will try the Lasagne and please do not hesitate to give me feedback either on the blog, product reviews, Twitter or contact me directly on headchef@donaldrussell.co.uk.

One thing on my mind already is the possibility of a larger portion size suitable for 3-4 servings. I thought about this at home when serving 4 individual Lasagnes for my family who by the way cannot get enough of them!

Oh, and that brings me to another idea I had for this – what about a Donald Russell Vegetable Lasagne? I had a vegetarian guest at the house last week and thought it would make a great alternative!

I look forward to hearing what you think!
Stefan

NEW Lasagne

If you've already bought it then you may have seen that our Dry Cured Streaky Bacon appears in the March edition of foodie magazine delicious. The bacon was voted as 'Joint Best' in the Independent Smoked category. It was noted for being 'chunky and meaty'.

Oh, and we have a great garnishing tip for streaky bacon.
Here's How to Cook Bacon Without Curles;

1. If you place a sheet of baking paper on top of a baking tray
2. Lay out desired amont of streaky bacon
3. lay another sheet of baking paper on top (like a sandwich)
4. Then another baking tray on top of that and place in a hot oven
5. Cook for 10-15mins

Result = perfectly flat bacon which is ideal for garnishing for example soup, mashed potato/veg, burgers, salads.

Go on give it a try!

If you'd like to read the article then click HERE