Freshly Blogged: Challenge 2

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This is a curl-up-in front-of-the-fire kind of dish. Winter and slow cooking are the inspiration behind this recipe – weekends spent with family holed up, away from the cold, sipping a glass of red wine while a warming dish like this is cooking away.

Meaty tomato sauce with Gnocchi

Serves 4

Time: 2 Hours

You will need

For the sauce:

500g Beef shin

Flour

Salt

Black pepper

Vegetable oil

2 Knorr Beef stock pots

750g Rosa tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped

1 Large carrot, finely diced

2 Leeks, finely sliced

1 Large celery stick, finely sliced

1 Tbls Sugar

1 Tbls White wine vinegar

2 Whole Star Anise

Fresh basil

For the Gnocchi:

4 Cups (about 600g) Gnocchi

Olive Oil

How to make it

For the sauce:

Cut the beef shin into large chunks (they don’t have to be eve sized). Dust them with flour, salt and pepper.

Heat 1 Tbls vegetable oil in a pressure cooker or a heavy based pot.

Brown the meat on both sides.

Pour boiling water over the meat until just covered and add one Knorr Beef stock pot.

If using a pressure cooker, bring to the boil and cook on pressure for 20 minutes.

If using a heavy based pot, cook for 1 – 1 ½ hours until the meat is tender.

Remove the meat from the stock and set aside.

Remove the stock from the pot and set aside.

In the same pot, heat another tablespoon of vegetable oil and fry the leeks, celery and carrot for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Add the tomatoes.

Add a 1/3 of the beef stock and boil the vegetables for 15 – 20 minutes until the carrots are tender.

With a stick blender, liquidize the sauce to a consistency of your liking.

Add another Knorr Beef stock pot,1 Tbls white wine vinegar and 1 Tbls sugar.

Reduce the sauce to a coating consistency.

Add the star anise and cook it with the sauce for 5 minutes, remove.

Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Once the meat is cool, cut it into bit-sized pieces, removing any bones, fat and sinew.

Add to the sauce.

For the Gnocchi:

Boil the gnocchi in salted boiling water.

Drizzle cooked gnocchi with olive oil to prevent it from sticking.

Just before serving, heat the sauce through.

Serve with gnocchi and garnish with fresh basil.