Beef Bourguignon

Ingredients

• 1 bottle fruity French red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• chopped or crushed
• 2 tbs light olive or vegetable oil
• 150g unsmoked bacon lardoons
• 3 carrots
• peeled and cut into chunks
• 12 pearl onions or small shallots
• peeled
• 200g button mushrooms
• 1 small onion
• peeled and thickly sliced
• 1.2kg braising steak or chuck steak
• cut into large chunks
• 1-2 tbs plain flour
• 1 quality beef stock cube in 100ml boiling water
• black pepper
• handful fresh parsley
• chopped
• few sprigs fresh thyme

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 140ºC fan/160ºC conventional/Gas 3
2. Pour the wine into your Circulon large saucepan and add the bay leaves and garlic. Bring to a gentle simmer for 30 minutes until reduced by almost half
3. Heat 1tbs of the oil in your Circulon non-stick Stockpot or Casserole and fry the bacon for a few minutes until golden then lift out and set aside, leaving the fat in the pan
4. Add the carrots, pearl onions and mushrooms to the pan and fry for 5 minutes until golden. Tip into a bowl and set aside
5. Fry the sliced onion for 3-4 minutes until golden then lift out and set aside on a separate plate
6. Place the beef into a bowl and sprinkle over the flour then toss to coat all the pieces evenly. Add the rest of the oil to the casserole and fry the beef in batches until just sealed and browned all over
7. Add back the sliced onions then pour over the reduced wine and the beef stock. Add the thyme, season with black pepper and place on the lid. Cook in the oven for 2½ hours, stirring occasionally until the meat is very tender
8. Remove the lid and add the carrots, pearl onions and mushrooms then return to the oven, uncovered for half an hour
9. Add the cooked bacon lardons and heat for a further 5 minutes then sprinkle over the parsley before serving