My cottage pie for cowboys! Feather blade braised in the pressure cooker with barbecue sauce (I used my homemade one, but your favourite shop-bought is fine), pulled into chunks rather than shredded so you get proper mouthfuls of beef, then topped with a 50/50 celeriac and potato mash. It makes an ample two, with probably some left over.
Ingredients
Beef
- 1 splash vegetable oil
- 600 g feather blade beef seasoned with salt a couple of hours ahead
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 stick celery finely diced
- 1 carrot finely diced
- 2 fat cloves garlic chopped or sliced
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp paprika
- 100 ml red wine
- 200 ml beef stock
- 150 ml barbecue sauce homemade or shop-bought
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- few sprigs thyme
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
Beef
- Set the pressure cooker to sauté, add the oil and brown the beef well.
- Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook for 5–10 minutes until soft.
- Add the garlic, tomato purée and paprika and cook for 1 minute.
- Pour in the wine and let it bubble for a couple of minutes, scraping up all the bits from the bottom.
- Add the stock, barbecue sauce, Dijon, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves. Put the lid on and pressure cook for 45 minutes.
- Leave for 15 minutes to let the pressure drop naturally, then release the rest.
- Switch back to sauté and reduce the sauce until really glossy and sticky, about 20 minutes.
Mash
- Meanwhile, boil the celeriac and potatoes in salted water for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain, cover with a tea towel and leave to steam for 10 minutes, then mash with plenty of butter.
Assemble and bake
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Remove the thyme stalks and bay leaves, and tip the beef and sauce into a baking dish or roasting tin. Pull the meat apart, leaving some good chunks.</