Beef bourguignon

• 2 tablespoons Wheat flour
  Swaps (2)
• 30 g Butter
  Swaps (2)
• 2 tablespoons Olive oil
• 1 u Onion (chopped)
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 2 u Carrot (thickly sliced)
• Salt (to taste)
• Black pepper (freshly ground)
• 1 tablespoon Tomato Puree (double concentrated)
• 4 sprigs Thyme (fresh)
• 2 leaves Bay Leaf
• 1 handful Parsley (chopped, to serve)
• 150 g Bacon (streaky bacon in a piece, cut into lardons)
  Swaps (1)
• 300 ml Beef Stock
  Swaps (1)
• 750 ml Red Wine (Burgundy or another fruity red)
• 12 u Shallots (small, peeled (or pearl onions))
  Swaps (1)
• 1.2 kg Beef Shin (or chuck, in 5 cm chunks)
• 300 g Button mushroom (small, whole or quartered)

Instructions

1. 1

   Pat the beef dry with kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper. In a cast-iron casserole or other heavy-based pot, fry the bacon over medium heat until it releases its fat; lift it out and set aside.

   6 min

2. 2

   Add the oil to the bacon fat, turn up the heat and brown the beef in two or three batches, without crowding, until well coloured on all sides. Set aside with the bacon.

   15 min

3. 3

   Lower the heat and soften the onion and carrot in the same pot until they start to give. Add the chopped garlic and the tomato purée and cook for another minute.

   8 min

4. 4

   Return the beef and bacon, sprinkle over the flour and stir for a couple of minutes so it toasts. Pour in the wine gradually, scraping the bottom, then add just enough stock to cover, plus the bay leaves and thyme.

   4 min

5. 5

   Bring to the boil, cover and cook over very low heat (or in the oven at 160 °C) until the beef falls apart when prodded with a fork.

   3 hr

6. 6

   Half an hour before the end, brown the shallots in a frying pan with half the butter, add a ladle of sauce from the stew and cook them covered until tender. Sauté the mushrooms in the rest of the butter over high heat until golden.

7. 7

   Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Stir the shallots and mushrooms into the stew and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes more. If the sauce is too thin, reduce it a little: it should coat the back of a spoon. Check the seasoning and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

   10 min