Beef fillet poached in cawl broth
This version of the traditional Welsh cawl soup comes with fillet of beef and shards of Caerphilly cheese. Serve with crusty bread.
Ingredients
For the cawl
- 1kg/2lb 4oz beef shin, on the boneÌý
- 3 carrots, roughly chopped
- 3 leeks, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, roughly choppedÌý
- 2 tbsp parsley stalks
- 600ml/20fl oz vegetable stock
For the beef fillet poached in cawl broth
- dash oil
- 2 x 200g/7oz beefÌý´Ú¾±±ô±ô±ð³Ù²õ
- 1 small potato, finely chopped
- ¼ swede, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 baby leeks, thinly sliced
- 3 baby turnips, finely chopped
- 3 baby carrots, trimmed
- 2 small round shallots, quartered
- 1 small spring cabbage heart, shredded
- 1 celery heart and leaves, heart chopped
- few parsley leaves
- 100g/3½oz mature hard Caerphilly cheese, broken into shards
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method
To make the cawl, put the beef shin, vegetables and parsley stalks in a pan, cover with the cold stock and bring to a boil. Skim and discard any impurities rising to the top of the liquid and simmer for 2–2½ hours, or until the meat is just tender.Ìý
Carefully strain the cooking liquor, discard the veg and pick the shin meat into small pieces, discarding the bone. Taste the stock and season with salt if necessary.
To make the beef fillet, heat a dash of oil in a hot pan. Season the beef with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and fry the beef fillets on all sides, until browned. Remove from the pan.
Heat enough of the broth to cover the beef in a saucepan and poach the beef gently for 5 minutes, until cooked, but still rare.
Heat the remaining broth in a saucepan and simmer the potato, swede, leeks, turnips, carrots, shallots, cabbage and celery heart, until just cooked.Ìý
To serve, sit some of the vegetables in the bottom of each of 4 soup bowls, pour some of the broth over the top. Slice each beef fillet in half horizontally and lay a slice on top of each bowl, garnish with the celery leaves, parsley leaves and shards of cheese.Ìý
