Boeuf Bourgignon

 A beautiful casserole to share on a cold winter night!

Preparation and cooking time: about 3 hours

Ingredients:

200 g smoked lardon cut into strips (or smoked bacon rashers)

10 peeled baby onions

2 tsp rapeseed oil

100 g of butter

1.6 kg of braising steak cut into large cubes

60 g of flour

50 cl of red wine

40 cl warm beef stock

Bouquet garni

200 g button mushrooms

French chopped parsley

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 150 c.
• Heat up 80 g of the butter and 1 tsp of oil in a large ovenproof casserole.
• Fry the smoked lardon and baby onion over a medium heat until golden.
• Reserve to one side.
• Add 20 g of butter and 1 tsp of oil and brown the meat in batches.
• Sprinkle the meat with the flour and stir continuously for a few minutes.
• Add the red wine, the beef stock, lardon and onions, bouquet garni, salt and pepper.
• Cover and transfer to the oven and bake for 2h.
• Add 200 g of button mushrooms (cut in half if large) and cook for a further 30 minutes
• Check the casserole. The sauce may need thinning (with water) or thickening (1 tsp of corn flour diluted in water)
• Serve with a good sprinkle of parsley.

My tips:

 Marinate the beef overnight in the red wine with carrots, onions and bouquet garni. Use the filtered marinade to cook the casserole.
A good quality red wine will benefit this dish
Adding a square of dark chocolate in the last 5 minutes of cooking will add a beautiful sheen to the sauce.