Last night I got a reprieve from after school sport - that meant I could cook my meal at a leisurely pace. Mind you, it meant I could have had something completely different for dinner as well. I had factored in the cooking time to take place while we were out - oh, well we still had a lovely meal. A nice warming, beef casserole.
As usual I made my own modifications to the recipe. The recipe was organised so the meat was cooked for 1+ hours, then you added the vegetables and cooked them for an additional 15 minutes. I don't know about you, but I like my mushrooms cooked in there with the meat to give it more flavour, also I didn't think adding the eschalots for only 15 minutes sounded all that appealing - I would rather them all soft and "melt in your mouth". So this is how I cooked my casserole.
Beef Casserole
Serves 6
1.2kg diced chuck or gravy beef
4 cloves crushed garlic
2 bay leaves
1 cup dry red wine
410g can crushed tomatoes
2 rosemary sprigs
300g eschalots, blanched, peeled
250g small mushrooms, quartered
2 carrots, diced
In a large non stick frypan brown the beef in batches.
Heat a small amount of oil in a large saucepan/casserole dish (with lid) on high heat. Cook the garlic and eschalots and bay leaves for 1-2 minutes. Add the beef, wine, tomato and rosemary. Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour.
Stir in the carrots, mushrooms. Cover and simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced to a nice thick consistency.
Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Serve with mashed potato and vegetables of choice.
There's really nothing easier than a casserole!!! Great for these cold wet nights!!
No comments:
Post a Comment