Beef rillettes salad with rocket and orange

This is, in a word, delicious.

Simple Beef Rillettes

Some stewing beef, cubed
A good number of cloves of garlic, unpeeled
A large bunch of rosemary or thyme
Generous amount of salt
Red wine to cover (add a bit of water if you like)
Extra virgin olive oil
Ground pepper

Throw the first five ingredients into a snug pot, bring to a boil and simmer gently for 5 minutes.  This will drive off the alcohol and allow the scum to gather on the surface.  Skim off that scum, cover with a lid, turn the heat down very low and leave for 2 hours.  Remove from the heat and leave for a further 20 minutes.

Remove all the contents from the liquid with a slotted spoon into a bowl.  Discard the herbs and most of the garlic, but squeeze a couple of cloves back into the bowl.  Shred the beef with two forks.

Boil the liquid remaining in the pot hard to reduce by about 2/3rds.  Combine with the beef, add some extra virgin olive oil and plenty of black pepper.  Leave to cool then place in the fridge to mature for a day or two, if possible.  Note that dishes to be served chilled must be seasoned more strongly than if they were to be served warm.

For the salad

Salad leaves, or rocket alone if you like it
Orange segments (see below)
Other salad ingredients of your choice, optional, but could include cherry tomatoes or cooked green beans

You can make nice orange segments easily by cutting the top and bottom off an orange, placing on a flat surface then slicing off rind and pith top to bottom in curves.  Then slice either side of adjoining lines to create segments.

To make the salad, place a bed of salad leaves on a plate, some beef on top, and strew some orange segments around.  Dress with a little more olive oil and black pepper.  Very tasty.

Variation: with roasted red peppers, green beans and rocket (see below)

In the photo is a variation where some beef rillettes have been tossed in a garlicky olive oil vinaigrette with roasted red peppers, cooked green beans and rocket.

To roast the peppers, wash and half them then use a small paring knife to trim out the white pith inside.  Dry them, rub with vegetable oil then grill at a 10cm distance from a grill until blackened thoroughly.  If they aren't cooked enough, and they do need to be at the right point of softness, then you can shut the oven door and whack the oven on for a bit.  Place in a plastic bag to cool, during which time the skins will continue to steam off the peppers.  Remove and discard the skins, and slice into strips.

The juices in the bag can be added to the salad, which will need more garlic and salt than usual with these peppers added.  It's a great bit of technique to know and can be done on a bbq in its early, very hot stage.