Boeuf Bourguignon

Boeuf Bourguingnon is another of those winter warming dishes that is rich in flavour and completely satisfying. This is great when you have quite a few friends over, as it feeds between 6 to 8 people. I would serve this with boiled potatoes and greens. I also recommend you should serve with warm rolls, as the sauce is not to be wasted. Ingredients:

4 lbs Stewing Beef (shoulder) Cut into 1 inch cubes. remove as much fat and gristle as possible 6 oz bacon (smoked if you like) 4 peeled and sliced Carrots 1 chopped Onion 1 lb sliced Mushrooms 2 chopped Stalks of Celery 1 bottle red Burgundy wine 3 tablespoons of Cognac or Brandy 2 cups of Beef Bouillon (beef stock) 1ounce flour 4 tablespoons of Olive oil 1ounce butter 1 small bunch Parsley 1 sprig Thyme 2 crushed Clove’s Garlic 18 small Baby Onions (replace with shallots) Salt and Black Pepper

Firstly cut the bacon into small strips. Then simmer bacon for 10 minutes in water. Pour the lot into a seive and strain off until the water is gone and the bacon is dry.

Using a cast iron pot (or one that you can use in the oven and on a hob. Using a medium heat fry the bacon in the olive oil for a couple of minutes, until the bacon is a golden brown colour. Remove the bacon and put onto a plate leaving the oil in the pot.

Cook the beef in the bacon fat and olive oil until browned, this is best done in batches otherwise you will end up poaching the meat and i find this dries out the meat. Once done remove the batches of beef and put with the bacon.

Still using the same pot, put the onion, carrots, celery (this is the french mirepoix) and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Remove the fat from the saucepan but leave the sticky residue as this is a large percentage of the flavour.

Mix the butter and the flour to make a paste called a beurre maniét.

Put again the beef and bacon with the vegetables in the pan. Add salt and pepper and butter flour mix. Mix the lot for 3 or 4 minutes.

Pour in the wine, cognac and enough bouillon so that it covers the ingredients. Add small onions, garlic and herbs.

Once the sauce bubbles cover the pot and simmer on the lowest hob setting for 3 hours, I use a diffuser as this stops the bottom of the stew from burning. Boeuf Bourguignon should be cooked very slowly. The meat is done when the fork slides out easily from a beef cube. Remove from heat.

In the last twenty minutes of cooking time, saute the mushrooms in butter. Finaly add the mushrooms to the Boeuf Bourguignon. Then garnish with parsley.

Hope you enjoy this one. If any is left over you can put in a heavy duty freezer bag and freeze. Then reheat like a boil in a bag until piping hot.