Slow-braised beef in red wine

Reminder and disclaimer – I’m not a particularly good cook, so follow this recipe with a degree of caution and a lot of common sense. Good luck! If your dish turns out great, then I’ll take all the credit. If not… well, you had been warned!

Ingredients:

100g streaky bacon

400g diced beef

I tbsp sunflower oil (tip: any vegatable oil will do)

1 onion, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

1 tbsp plain flour

300ml red wine

300ml beef stock

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp dried Provencal herbs (tip: I used whatever I had in the cupboard)

100g button mushrooms

4 tbsp fresh parsley chopped (for garnish)

Method:

1.  Pre-heat oven to gas 3/160 C/140 C fan. Fry bacon over a medium heat until crispy. When done, pop into an ovenproof casserole dish.

2.  Fry beef for 2-3 minutes until browned; you may have to do this in batches. Add some of the vegetable oil if the meat begins to stick. Once browned, transfer to the casserole dish.

3. Fry the onions , add to the casserole dish, and then do the same with the carrots. No reason in particular, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

4. Add a couple of tbsp of wine to the frying pan, bring it to the boil, then take it off the heat for a minute or two while you gradually add the flour, stirring frantically so it doesn’t get all lumpy. If it does (mine did because I dumped the whole of the wine in), don’t worry, the problem will sort itself out in the oven. Add some more of the wine, put it back on the heat, and keep stirring, adding the rest of the wine slowly. Add the stock, the Worcester sauce and the herbs. Yet more stirring until it thickens up.

5. Put the liquid in the casserole dish, stick the thing in the oven and leave to cook for 2 hours. More if you’re using a tough bit of cow.

Serve with creamy mash and a green vegetable of your choice (I’m only saying green because it gives a good contrasting colour on the plate).

Enjoy!!