Beef & Horseradish Cobbler

Lighter than a pie but still a 'stick to the ribs' winter warmer. I have done my usual number on this one by adding in as many vegetables as possible. When I'm working hard in the kitchen, my diet is appalling so I need to cram in as many vitamins as possible on my days off. I'm sure it won't do you any harm either! Feeds four:

Ingredients:

Chuck steak - 1kg, skin and excess fat removed, cut into large chunks

Plain Flour - 50g

Dripping or veg oil - 50ml

Real ale of some sort - 250ml

Red Onion - 1, roughly chopped

Button Mushrooms - 20, halved

Chantenay carrots - 15, tops removed

Leek - 1, course leaves removed, cleaned and roughly chopped

Parsnip - 2 small, peeled and cut into chunks

Bay leaf - 2

Sprig of thyme - 2

Reduced beef stock (100ml) or a good quality beef stock cube made up to 100ml with water

Worcestershire sauce - 2 tbsp

Self raising flour - 200g

Suet - 100g

Fresh horseradish or from a jar - 3 tbsp grated

1 egg, beaten

Salt and Pepper

Method:

Toss the beef in seasoned plain flour then fry hard in the dripping or veg oil until dark golden and crusty. Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon then fry the leek, onion and mushrooms in the same pan until they start to colour. Remove the veg from the pan and deglaze with the beer making sure you scrape all those crusty bits off the bottom of the pan. Put the meat, cooked veg and beer in a casserole dish and tip in the beef stock, the carrots, Worcestershire sauce and the herbs. Season lightly and cover with a lid of baking parchment. Slow braise at 160c for 2 hours, add the parsnips, stir, and give the casserole another 30 mins in the oven. The meat should be falling apart and the parsnips should be soft, if not cook for another 30 mins. Check the seasoning adding more salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce if necessary.

In a bowl mix together the self raising flour, the suet, a tsp of salt and pepper and the horseradish. Add 80ml of water and mix to a soft sticky dough - add a little more water if necessary. On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to approx 1cm thick, cut out into rounds and arrange the circles of dough over the meat in the casserole dish. Brush the dough disks with the beaten egg and bake for approx 30mins at 180c until the meat is bubbling and the cobbler topping is golden brown. I served mine with steamed kale - you can never have enough veg.