A delicious beef and red wine stew - good enough for entertaining and the kids will love it too. Serve with a Celeriac and Potato Mash or Potatoes à la Boulangère.
Ingredients
- 1 kg diced beef
- 1 bottle red wine
- 2 tblsp cognac
- oil for frying
- 150 g streaky bacon
- 10 large shallots (peeled and quartered)
- 4 garlic clove (peeled and diced)
- 225 g carrots (sliced)
- 4 tblsp plain flour (seasoned)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 stalks of parsley
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 2 strips of orange zest
- 400 g tinned tomatoes
- 150 g pitted black olives
- 1 tsp sugar, to taste
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
A delicious beef and red wine stew - good enough for entertaining and the kids will love it too. Serve with a Celeriac and Potato Mash or Potatoes à la Boulangère.
- Preheat oven to 160°C.
- Place the diced beef into a bowl big enough to hold the wine and beef.
- Place the red wine in a saucepan, over a medium heat and reduce by one third.
- Pour the wine over the beef. Cover and leave the beef to marinate for approximately 20 minutes, turning the meat occasionally.
- Strain the marinade from the beef and reserve the marinade.
- Dry the pieces of beef with kitchen paper.
- Place the beef in a bowl and toss in the seasoned flour.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Fry the beef in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pan.
- Turn the beef once it has browned on one side.
- Remove from the frying pan and place in a casserole dish.
- Add the diced streaky bacon to the pan and cook for approximately 2-3 minutes. Place in the casserole with the beef.
- Add the shallots to the pan and cook for 3 minutes before adding the garlic and carrots.
- Continue to cook for a further 2 minutes and transfer to the casserole dish.
- Pour the red wine marinade and cognac into the casserole dish, ensuring that the beef is fully covered.
- Top up with beef stock, if required. Bring to the boil and skim.
- Add the orange zest, bay leaf, parsley and thyme.
- Place the casserole dish into the oven and cook for approx 2-3 hours until the meat is tender.
- 30 minutes before the end of cooking time add in the tinned tomatoes and pitted black olives.
- Add the sugar and check seasoning and adjust if necessary.
- Serve with crusty bread, mashed potato, Potatoes à la Boulangère or pasta.
Catherine's Tip:
Choose the wine carefully for this dish. Poor quality wine will leave a disappointing aftertaste. Use wine that you would be equally as happy to sip from a glass.
