This is a favourite roast of mine. I use the Simply Better Irish Angus from Jennings in Ballinrobe. It is a succulent and tender cut that melts in the mouth. There is lovely marbelling and, when cooked on the bone, the flavour is amazing. It is a bit like having a very big rib-eye. When you seal it in the pan use the peppercorns and mustard if they are to your taste.

This is an easy Yorkshire pudding recipe. Pat Whelan has made beef dripping popular, and even fashionable. He is a very innovative butcher and the dripping is delicious in this recipe.

This fruity bread and butter pudding came from my mother, Vera. It is packed with fruit. I recently made it with Jersey milk from the Village Dairy and it was delicious. Their milk is wonderful in coffee also, so rich and creamy. Instead of the caster sugar you could use two tablespoons of honey.

Happy cooking,

Neven

Neven Maguire’s Midweek Meals is out now, published by Gill

Recipes

Roast rib of beef on the bone with Yorkshire puddings

Roast rib of beef on the bone with Yorkshire puddings. \ Photography: Philip Doyle. Food styling: Janine Kennedy

Serves six to eight

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tbsp strong English mustard

2 tsp sea salt

1.5kg (3¼lb) French trimmed rib of beef on the bone, at room temperature

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

2 large onions, peeled and quartered with root left intact

2 large carrots, halved lengthways

1 garlic bulb, halved (not peeled)

Small handful of soft thyme sprigs

2 tsp plain flour

400ml (14fl oz) beef or chicken stock

Horseradish cream to serve

For the Yorkshire puddings:

3 eggs

100g (4oz) plain flour

250ml (9fl oz) milk

Pinch of sea salt

Rapeseed oil, for cooking, OR beef dripping

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 Preheat the oven to 230°C (450°F/gas mark 8).
  • 2 Heat a small frying pan and toast the peppercorns until aromatic. Then place in a pestle and mortar and grind until cracked. Place in a bowl, then mix in the mustard and salt. Wipe the meat with damp kitchen paper and rub all over with the mustard mixture.
  • 3 Pour the oil into a roasting tin and add the onions, carrots, garlic and thyme, tossing to coat. Season to taste, then push to the edges and sit the beef in the middle of the vegetables.
  • 4 Roast for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200°C (400°F/gas mark 6) and roast for 10 minutes per 450g (1lb) for rare, 12 minutes for medium-rare and 20-25 minutes for well done. A joint this size will take just under 1 hour to cook. Take out and baste halfway through the cooking.
  • 5 Meanwhile, make the Yorkshire pudding batter. Whisk the eggs, flour, milk and salt together in a bowl until well combined. Pour the batter into a Pyrex jug and let it rest for 30 minutes before you use it – this will help to make it smoother, giving you fantastic light and crispy puddings.
  • 6 When the beef is cooked to your liking, remove it from the tin along with the onions and carrots and place on a platter. Cover with tin foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes before carving.
  • 7 Now it’s time to cook the Yorkshire puddings. Increase the oven temperature to its highest setting and put a muffin tin in a baking tin on the top shelf. When the oven is up to temperature, carefully remove the tins, close the oven door and add a tablespoon of oil to each hole in the muffin tin. Pop the tins back in the oven for a couple of minutes, until the oil is smoking hot. Open the oven door and slide the shelf with the tins halfway out. Quickly fill each muffin hole with batter, then carefully slide the shelf back into the oven. Cook for 15 minutes without opening the oven door, until the Yorkshire puddings are crisp and golden with a soft, fluffy centre.
  • 8 Meanwhile, quickly make the gravy. Pour the juices from the roasting tin into a jug, discarding the garlic and thyme, and leave the fat to settle on top, then skim off the fat and discard. Reserve the juices. Stir the flour into the roasting tin, scraping the bottom of the tin with a wooden spoon to remove any residue, then gradually stir in the stock and reserved juices. Place directly on the hob and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring. Pour through a fine mesh sieve into a gravy boat.
  • 9 To serve, carve the rested beef into slices and arrange on warmed plates with a dollop of horseradish cream. Add the roasted onions, carrots and Yorkshire puddings. Hand round the gravy separately.
  • Fruity bread and butter pudding

    Serves four to six

    4 eggs

    300ml (½ pint) milk

    150ml (¼ pint) cream

    Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

    1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out

    50g (2oz) caster sugar

    250g (9oz) sliced white bread (6 slices)

    75g (3oz) butter, softened, extra for greasing

    75g (3oz) ready-to-eat dried prunes, finely chopped

    75g (3oz) sultanas

    Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

    4 tbsp marmalade

    Icing sugar, to dust

    Pouring cream or vanilla ice cream, to serve

  • 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas mark 4). Lightly butter an ovenproof dish that’s about 25cm × 16cm (10in × 6in) and 2.5cm (1in) deep.
  • 2 Beat the eggs, milk and cream together in a large jug. Mix together the lemon rind and juice, vanilla seeds and sugar in a small bowl and then add to the egg mixture, beating lightly to combine.
  • 3 Spread the slices of bread with the softened butter and cut off the crusts, then cut into triangles.
  • 4 Scatter half of the prunes and sultanas into the bottom of the buttered dish and arrange a layer of the bread triangles on top. Pour over half of the egg mixture, pressing the bread down gently, then repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients and sprinkle the nutmeg on top.
  • 5 Place the dish into a roasting tin and fill with warm water until it comes three-quarters of the way up the dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until just set.
  • 6 Meanwhile, sieve the marmalade and then heat it in a small pan. Brush the top of the cooked pudding with the marmalade to form a nice glaze when it comes out of the oven. Dust lightly with icing sugar.
  • 7 To serve, cut into slices while still warm and arrange on warmed serving plates with pouring cream or ice cream.