Day 142: tender goodness

Mondays are never the best days for me to set aside some time to do some writing, so I do hope you’ll forgive me for another very short entry. (I’m sure you’re all busy as well!).

One of my best friends came to visit for the weekend and I’d planned meat skewers, of some kind, for Friday night dinner. Whilst shopping Friday morning - because any sooner would have been too organised for me - I had a quick search on nigella.com and her Juicy Beef Skewers with Horseradish Dip popped up. I rarely cook with beef, maybe once a month, so I thought it’d be a nice change. And the butcher had some lovely rump.

Nigella’s Juicy Beef Skewers with Horseradish Dip

Unless I plan in advance, horseradish root is quite difficult for me to find. Normally, I’d get it from the Polski sklep, but it’s not exactly local and I was in quite a rush. Luckily I always have it - in some form or other - in a jar in the fridge; at this point in time, as hot creamed horseradish and grated horseradish with cranberry (which has a gorgeous pink colour by the way). I opted for the hot creamed horseradish sauce: it’s stronger.

I gave this a good few hours in the marinade and I could feel when skewering the chunks how tender the meat had already become. I had a little fight with my griddle pan: it’s not non-stick and cooking any kind of meat on it is a pain in the arse. Lighting and grilling on the barbecue would have been less stressful! Still, this isn’t a reflection on the recipe: just my determination to achieve criss-cross griddle marks and a reflection on my stubbornness. A non-stick cast iron griddle pan is going on my Christmas wishlist!

Flavour musings

Juicy, tender and bursting with seriously good flavour. These Juicy Beef Skewers are so moist that a dip isn’t even needed, and that means a lot coming from a dipaholic like myself. Still, the Horseradish Dip, in all its pungent, creamy, coolness, was enjoyed very much; I’ve been standing by the fridge door dipping Kettle Crisps into the leftovers all weekend.

The rosemary in the photo is fresh from the garden and was not only used as a prop: once the skewers were devoured, I washed it and used some in bread, some in a stew, and froze the rest.