Colleton Beef Burgers (feeds two)

Ingredients:-

• 1 pack of Colleton Beef Mince
• 2 x eggs (we prefer free range)
• chilli
• garlic
• ginger
• parsley
• other spices as per your taste (EG nutmeg)

Method:-

Chop the chilli, garlic and ginger finely. Combine in a bowl with the mince and the eggs. Sprinkle the spices on top. Get stuck in - mix it all up with your hands, give it a good kneading until the spice is spread evenly throughout the meat. Leave to infuse for at least ten minutes before cooking.

Use a heavy frying pan or a griddle pan, get it nice and hot (smoking) with a bit of oil (olive oil, sesame oil...etc). Split the meat into 4 roughly even chunks and pop them all into the smoking pan. Flatten a little using a spatula. Cooking times as per your taste below. Remember to flip the burger halfway through:-

Rare: 1-2 minutes

Medium-rare: 2-3 minutes

Medium: 3-4 minutes

Well done: 5-6 minutes

Serve with chips, potatoes, rice, whatever takes your fancy, and a good dash of excellent banter, possibly some beer or a good red wine to accompany :)

Colleton Red Ruby Chilli

Ingredients:

• 2 x packets of Colleton Red Ruby minced beef
• 500g dried red or black kidney beans, soaked in cold water overnight
• 4 table spoons olive oil
• 2 large onions chopped
• 1-5 fresh green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped*
• 2 tablespoons malt, wine or cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of dark brown sugar
• 2 x 200g tins of plum tomatoes
• 250 ml beef stock
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 0.5 teaspoon dried oregano or marjoram
• 1-5 tablespoons of chilli powder*
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

*The 1-5 quantities for fresh chillies and chilli powder range from mildly hot - to very hot, adjust according to how hot you like it!

Preperation and cooking

Drain and rinse the dry kidney beans after soaking and put them in a large pan of fresh water and bring to the boil.  Boil hard for about 10 minutes then simmer gently for up to 2 hours, until completely tender, reserve some of the cooking liquid.

Heat a just over half the oil in a large frying pan and brown the Colleton Red Ruby mince beef in batches and transfer it to a large casserole or stockpot.  Add the rest of the oil to the frying pan and sweat the onions on a lower heat until soft and translucent.  Add them to the meat along with the other ingredients apart from the beans.  Bring to the boil and stir gently, adding water if it looks dry.

Cook for 1-1.5 hours until meat is tender and the sauce nicely amalgamated.  Add the beans for the last 20 minutes or so, use seasoning to adjust the taste at the end.  Serve your Colleton Red Ruby Chilli in the traditional way with tortillas, Guacamole and soured cream, or serve with buttery baked potatoes.

Sublime Roast Beef (based on a Colleton Red Ruby 2kg joint)

Before you begin, pre heat the oven to 220-230°C/ Gas Mark 7-8, then proceed to phase 1.

Phase 1: The half hour sizzle

Lightly salt a joint of Colleton Red Ruby beef and place it in the oven at a very high temperature of 220-230°C/ Gas mark 7-8.  This will allow the meat to develop a beautiful tasting crust within 20-30 minutes.  Any longer and the juices will begin to evaporate making the joint dry and flavourless.

Phase 2: The cooking

Turn the oven down to 180°C/ Gas Mark 4 and cook for a further 60 minutes.  This will give you a medium cooked joint which is just pink in the middle; cooking time can be shortened or extended depending on individual taste.

Phase 3: The Rest

Resting your Colleton Red Ruby joint will allow the moisture to settle back into the meat, as the temperature evens out through the joint.  For this to occur, the joint should be rested at just above room temperature.  This can be done by opening the oven door and turning the oven off, only if your oven cools quickly.

Serve and enjoy with vegetables of your choice.