After such a mild December the cold weather has finally arrived and a day on which the frost never clears from the lawn demands a slow-cooked stew.
We've still got gallons of cheap red in the wine rack from our trip to France in December, and I still had some featherblade steak in the freezer from when I did the Hairy Bikers' recipe for that. There was only one left, so I bought some diced braising steak and a section of oxtail to bulk it up with.
I haven't made this for ages so I googled for recipes before I got going and discovered that everyone does this differently, so don't take my recipe as being hard and fast rules! The common points are slow-cooked beef, bacon and carrots cooked in red wine - the rest seems to be a bit of a movable feast.
Some people marinade the meat in red wine overnight and some don't. I did. Some people are very parsimonious with the wine. I wasn't - I used a whole bottle. After all, it was less than €1 per bottle from Carrefour!
I'm a great believer in keeping things as simple as possible, so I set up my production line before I got going. Basically, all the ingredients are going to spend a bit of time in a frying pan before being transferred to the slow-cooker insert.
Bacon first. I used a couple of thick slices of pancetta, cut into small pieces, but streaky bacon or lardons would be fine. You need some fat though, don't use lean bacon. Do the bacon good and hot to get some brown colour on it, then turn the heat down and add a chopped onion and a couple of crushed and chopped cloves of garlic. You could use shallots instead if you prefer. Let them soften for a few minutes, then transfer into the slow-cooker.
Now brown your marinaded meat in small batches and transfer over.
Finally, give the carrots a short burst and put them in the pot too.
Deglaze the pan with a ladleful of the red wine the beef was marinaded in, then add all the red wine to the slow-cooker insert.
Season, add thyme, a bay leaf and a bouquet garni, then cook on high for four hours. I absolutely love my slow cooker and I'd urge you to get one, but if you don't have one, cook in the oven at 100C for four hours.
If you want mushrooms, add them in the last hour of cooking time. They don't need long.
Serve with some nice crusty rolls. Individual baguettes seemed appropriate - they looked very French, but I forgot to take a picture of a plate. Bof.
Taste verdict
We had a guest with us for this one and he and the Manicure Maniac were perfectly happy with it. I wasn't convinced about the full bottle of wine, myself - I think half wine and half stock might have made for a more balanced flavour.
The Skinny
Marinade braising steak and/or featherblade steak and/or an oxtail overnight in red wine
Fry lardons, a chopped onion and a couple of crushed and chopped cloves of garlic and put into slow cooker insert
Fry a chopped carrot and put into the slow cooker insert
Fry the meat and put into the slow cooker insert
Add a the marinading wine (or, better yet, a mixture of wine and beef stock)
Add a bouquet garni, bay leaves and thyme
Cook on high for four hours (or low for at least six)
Add mushrooms in the last hour of cooking time
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