Entertain at home: Braised beef short rib with buttery mash

Serves 6

You’ll need: 30ml olive oil; 1,2kg beef short rib, cut into chunks; salt & pepper; 2 red onions, chopped; 2 sprigs rosemary, stalks removed, chopped; 10ml Dijon mustard; 10ml flour; 10ml smoked paprika; ½ bottle red wine; 6 large floury potatoes, cooked; ½ cup milk; 125ml butter; a handful of chopped Italian parsley, to serve.

How to:

In a large heavy-based pot, heat the oil over high heat and brown the meat in batches, seasoning it with salt & pepper as you go. Set the meat aside.

Lower the heat, then add the onions & rosemary and fry until the onions are soft and golden. Add the mustard, flour and smoked paprika and stir well. Add the wine and bring to a simmer, then add the meat and all the juices back into the pot. Stir, cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour.

In the meantime, make the mash: After cooking the potatoes, peel them, then use a masher to create a smooth fluffy mush. Add milk and butter as you go – the texture should be loose, but not runny. Season well with salt & pepper.

When the meat is really tender, remove it from the heat. Serve on a bed of mash, scattered with chopped parsley, with a glass of Spier 21 Gables Cabernet Sauvignon.

About the wine:
Red fruits, truffle and the typical Helderberg lead pencil and fynbos notes slowly unfurl on the nose. The palate is richly textured with cassis-laden tannins and black currant leaves, offering a sweet-sour freshness and elegant frame. Lush fruit, powerful tannins and an earthy complexity provide supreme balance leading to a long salty, sumptuous finish. Elegant and richly textured, the palate offers sweet-and-sour freshness with lush blackcurrant. The new oak is almost fully integrated and supports the finely tuned, dry tannins. A wine that will amply reward patient drinkers, the 2014 vintage will open up over the next few years, offering excellent drinking for a decade or more.

Recipe by Ilse van der Merwe. Photography by Tasha Seccombe. Sourced via www.spier.co.za