We love a long slow cooked casserole and tend to fall back on the red wine and lardons option but sometimes it’s nice to ring the changes.
Adding stout instead of wine and then prunes towards the end of cooking gives a delicious rich casserole that is perfect in the run up to Christmas.
Like all long slow cooked dishes, it’s even better the next day. The flavours integrate overnight and then all that’s required is to reheat it in the oven on a low heat.
You will need:
Stewing beef around 150g per person (see note 1)
One large onion roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic peeled and finely chopped
2 bay leaves
2 or 3 large carrots peeled and cut into large chunks
A tablespoon of plain flour
A 330ml bottle of Stout or Guinness
500ml beef stock made up using a stock cube (see note 2)
125g soft prunes (see note 3)
Method:
Season the beef with salt and pepper and fry on all sides in a little olive oil until brown all over. Remove and put to one side.
Fry the onion, garlic and carrots until softened slightly (my tip is to add a teensy bit of salt as this softens the onions without burning them)
Add the flour and continue cooking for a minute.
Add the beer and stock and then pop the beef back in the pot along with the bay leaves.
Cook in a low oven 150°C for 2 – 3 hours. Check after 2 hours and then every half an hour. It should be meltingly tender. Add the prunes after an hour and a half.
I served it with simply boiled buttery potatoes and fresh broccoli but served it a second time the next day with pasta which was equally delicious.
Notes:
1 I used joue de boeuf or beef cheek. One cheek will serve approximately 4 people. Any good stewing beef is fine just make sure it’s not too lean.
2 Check the saltiness of your stock cube. Some are much more salty than others to err on the side of caution and you can always adjust the seasoning at the end
3 Use ready soaked prunes or if you can’t find them then soak in a bowl covered with boiling water until soft before adding to the dish.
