What’s cooking today: Beef short rib tomato bredie

Tomato bredie is made with fatty mutton ribs, so this is not a traditional one. Rather, I used beef short rib, which has similar qualities while offering an alternative take on the classic dish.

If you’d like to make the traditional tomato bredie, here is my take on C Louis Leipoldt’s version of the dish.

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

1.5 kg beef short rib, in pieces

4 Tbsp olive oil, more if needed

1 large white onion, chopped

2 or 3 fat garlic cloves, chopped

3 celery stalks, diced

2 large carrots, sliced

4 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

3 or 4 rosemary sprigs

Peel of 1 orange and its juice

Beef stock to cover (I used Nomu diluted with water)

1 x 400 g can of chopped tomatoes

16 baby (A.K.A. “new”) potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled

Salt to taste

1 heaped tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp cornflour diluted in 3 Tbsp cold water

Method

Heat oil in a heavy pot and brown the chunks of beef short rib in batches on both sides. Remove to a side dish.

Simmer the onions with the garlic and celery until softened.

Add the meat back to the pot.

Add the chopped fresh tomatoes and the can of tomatoes, followed by the carrots, strips of orange peel (just use a potato peeler) and juice, and pour in beef stock to cover.

Season with salt and black pepper, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, put the lid on, and let it cook for an hour before adding the scrubbed new potatoes, as baby potatoes are called in the UK.

Cook gently for about 3 hours or until the beef is very tender. For the last hour of cooking, remove the lid.

When it’s tender, stir in the diluted cornflour and simmer for a few minutes, stirring, while it thickens. It doesn’t need anything more than a sprig of rosemary as a garnish, since the starch is already in the pot. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed in a bowl by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.