Beef in Red Wine

A great new recipe from Mum that I made last week for a dinner party.  It was delicious and exactly the sort of meal you crave on a freezing night.  I started on Thursday as the meat needed time to marinate.  Mine marinated in the fridge overnight and I slow cooked it on Friday, so all ready for dinner on Saturday.

It's a rich stew, packed with flavour.  I served ours on mashed potato, with a rocket and parmesan salad, some yummy peas in mint and parsley, plus some crunchy bread.

I ended up buying about 1.8kg of chuck steak as I was feeding 6 big eaters and wanted to be sure I had enough.  I also asked the butcher to cut them into larger size chunks (not small cubes as per the recipe), as Mum had suggested it's better for serving and looks nicer on plates to have a couple of larger pieces. Was pleased I did this.  I slowed cooked it for a little longer, about 2.5 - 3 hours.

As I was making it ahead of time, once I added the shallots, bacon, mushrooms etc to the pot, I stirred everything together but did not cook it for the extra 20 minutes.  I popped it in the fridge ready for Saturday and finished off the cooking then just before serving.  I cooked it for 1 hour at 160 degrees and then served it out.

I would definitely make it again, it's a great dish.

1.5kg chuck steak, trimmed and cut into small cubes
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
500ml / 2 cups red wine
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
200g French shallots, peeled
150g bacon, rind removed, cut into batons
250g button mushrooms, trimmed
3 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

Put the steak, garlic, onion, celery and wine in a large non-metallic bowl, mix together, cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Tip the beef, the marinade and the tomatoes into a large ovenproof dish, cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until golden.
Add the bacon and mushrooms and cook for a further 3-4 minutes until the bacon is crisp.
Mix the cornflour with enough cold water to form a smooth paste.
Add the shallots, bacon and mushrooms to the casserole with the cornflour mixture and stir together very well.
Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes, season with salt and pepper and stir through the parsley.
If you like the sauce to be thicker, uncover the dish and cook it on the stove top at a high simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the liquid.
Serve with some creamy mashed potatoes.
Serves 6.

Not a great photo....!