Oxtail and Guinness Puddings

I have to admit I did make these puds at home and just steamed them in the van, but there is absolutely no reason why they can't be made from scratch in the caravan. We had these on arrival day so I wanted something tasty but not too time consuming to cook. I have taken inspiration from Heston's steak and kidney puds but instead of cooking in wine and brandy I'm using Guinness instead, plus Mrs Larry absolutely hates kidneys so they've been omitted too. Three ingredients that do massively compliment beef are rosemary, mushroom and star anise, so I've included them all! The puds themselves are crammed full of meat and probably full of many unctuous calories so they really are a treat.

Ingredients:
(serves 4)

For the Oxtail:
1.6kg Oxtail
2x Large onions, sliced
2x Carrots, peeled and sliced
200g Chestnut mushrooms
1x Can of Guinness
1x Can of water (just fill up the empty Guinness can)
4x Garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1x Bay leaf
1x Thyme sprig
1x Rosemary sprig
1x Star anise
1x Beef stock cube
2tbsp Tomato puree
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce (or Hendersons if you're Yorkshire)
1tbsp Balsamic vinegar

For the Suet Pastry:
140g Atora suet
280g Self raising flour
5g Salt
160ml Cold water


Method:

1. Lets make the pastry by mixing all the ingredients together and work into a dough. The water isn't a precise measurement so add it slowly until you have a nice ball of dough. Stick it in a freezer bag in the fridge.
2. Liberally grease your pudding moulds with butter and put them in the freezer.
3. Season the oxtail well then in a frying pan place them fat sides down. When the fat has been released turn them and brown on all sides then transfer to a casserole dish.
4. Into the casserole dish goes the stock cube, mushrooms, bay, thyme, rosemary, star anise, Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar.
5. Now fry the onions and carrots in the beef fat for 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree and garlic and continue cooking and stirring for a few more minutes. Pour in the Guinness, bring to a simmer, then transfer all to the casserole dish.
5. Deglaze the pan with the can of water, bring to a simmer and pour into the casserole dish.
6. Put the casserole in the oven on gas mark 2 (150C) for about 3 hours.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Pick all the meat out and discard the veg and bones by sieving the cooking gravy into a jug. Let the gravy cool so all the fat rises to the top and skim it off.
8. For each pudding roll out about 120g of the suet dough into a circle and line the pudding mould. Fill the mould with meat and gravy, pack it in there so it is almost bursting, then trim the pastry edges and roll that out into a circle. Brush the rim of the pud pastry with water and put the circle on as a lid, trim and press down the edges then top with parchment paper secured with an elastic band.
9. Pop the puddings in a pan of water where the water comes half way up the moulds. Put the pan lid on and steam for 30 minutes.
10. Heat your remaining gravy gently in a saucepan.
11. When the puddings are done gently ease them out of the moulds on to plates. You can use a flavour injector to inject more gravy into them or just pour more over them and tuck in!