Savoury

Braised beef with winter vegetables and stoned incidents

Braised beef with winter vegetables

My annual old lady thermal cure was relaxing and very therapeutic, but not without incident. At the beginning of the first week I knocked myself out swinging on the shower rail. I wasn’t actually swinging on it, but I might just have been judging by the way it collapsed. Afterwards the nurse was very solicitous, and I think I caught a glimpse of ‘hopeless klutz’ and ‘not fit to be left unattended’ on my medical file. My slurred character wasn’t helped by The Great Hanky Haul a few days later: Luc, never one to do things by halves, asked me to pick up 16 (really, I mean wtf?) boxes of tissues and a bottle of whisky on my way home. The cashier, cheeky monkey, asked if I was ‘planning on coming down with a nasty virus then drowning my sorrows’.

During the course of the second week, I arrived back to the car to find it wedged in on both sides. My only option was to reach the front seat via the boot. Spending a morning saturated in mineral water and mud leaves you, or leaves me at least, absolutely stoned with little or no capacity to reason. This meant that my journey through the car via the back seat was complicated further by the fact that I hadn’t thought to remove my voluminous bag which was over my shoulder. To cut a long story short, the owner of one of the offending vehicules returned to find me swearing, sweating and stuck midway with my feet flapping. I felt I couldn’t give him too much of a bollocking as he graciously helped me exit through a side door, a bit like a doctor performing an emergency c-section. 

This comforting casserole is the sort of thing you can leave on a very low heat nearly all day, while you’re out and about causing havoc.

Recipe for braised beef with winter vegetables (serves 4)

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and sliced
  • 2 shallots, peeled and chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 800g stewing or braising steak, cut into rough pieces
  • Cornflower to dust
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into large pieces
  • 6 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
  • 1 fennel, rinsed and cut into chunks
  • 3 tablespoons tomato purée
  • 1/2 bottle red wine
  • 275ml beef stock

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Put the olive oil into a casserole dish over a medium heat, adding the onion, shallot and garlic and fry until golden. Toss the meat in the cornflour, season and then add to the casserole. Add the vegetables and tomato purée, wine and stock, gently stirring. Transfer to the preheated oven and cook for 3-4 hours or until the meat is falling apart tender. If you want to leave it longer check there is enough liquid and turn the oven down.

2 Comments

  • kristenannmoore

    I’m impressed you just went through the boot of your car when locked in on both sides! I imagine most people would have stood there and stewed and then let the first person back to their car have an earful! Lovely winter recipe :0).

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