My Movember Menu: Beef in Red Wine

Ingredients

• 750g Chopped Stewing Steak
• 2 Chopped Celery Stalks
• 1 Chopped Large Carrot
• 1 Large Chopped Onion
• 1 Chopped Red Pepper
• 3 Chopped Spring Onions
• Tomato Purée
• 1 Bottle of Red Wine - Malbec works very nicely for this dish
• Beef Stock Cube
• Parsley
• Bay Leaves
• Olive Oil
• Curly Kale
• Enough Diced Potatoes
• Salt and Pepper
• 150g Quartered Closed Cup Mushrooms
• Whole Milk

Instructions

Beef and Onions

1. Start by chopping up the onion. This doesn't have to be finely chopped, a course cut will add to the rustic feel of the dish.
2. Add the onion to a pan with some olive oil and cook until the onions start to turn glassy.
3. Add chunked steak to the pan and brown off the chunks.
4. If using a slow cooker, now's the time to move the beef and onions into the pot.

The Veg

1. Next, chop the rest of the vegetables and fry them off, with the lid on to help soften the carrots.
2. While they fry off, chop up the mushrooms and add them to the pan or slow cooker.
3. Once the veg has fried, either add to the slow cooker, or reintroduce the beef and onions to your pan.
4. Now we add the crucial ingredient. Wine. Add enough wine to fill the pan to around 90% capacity.
5. Finish with a decent squirt of tomato purée, just to help thicken the sauce.

Seasoning

1. Now we can add a little extra flavouring in the form of two bay leaves, a heaped tablespoon of parsley, as well as salt and pepper to taste.
2. For additional beefy flavour you can add a beef stock cube, or a heaped teaspoon of Bovril. Or both if you want a really strong beefy flavour.

Cooking on the Hob

1. If you're going to cook this on the hob, keep it simmering away, on a medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Cooking in a Slow Cooker

1. Mix it all through in the slow cooker, and leave on high for 6-7 hours. Any longer and I'd recommend leaving it on a lower setting.

Cooking the Curly Kale

1. Here I always cheat a little and use Chef Mike (The Microwave). Put the kale in a microwavable saucepan with about 1 cm of water at the bottom and microwave for 2 minutes. This will in effect steam the kale nicely.
2. Strain well and dish out.

Making the Creamy Mash

1. Peel and finely chop enough potatoes for your party. The finer you cut them the quicker they will cook, and the smoother the mash you'll get.
2. Stick the potato into a pan of boiling and well salted water, and boil until the potatoes are soft.
3. Strain well and remove from heat.
4. Add a large knob of butter.
5. Add a dash of milk, the less the better, you can always add more. Equally, I prefer to use whole milk here as it gives a creamier result.
6. Mash the potatoes in with the milk and butter. If you have any double cream, feel free to add a drop or too if you're feeling fancy.
7. Once mashed properly, the potatoes will have the consistency of a very thick cake batter.
8. Portion it out.

Dishing Up

1. Portion out the kale and potatoes.
2. Ladle out your beef in red wine.
3. Serve with the rest of the wine.
4. Enjoy compliments from guests. Or if you're on your own, just go "mmmm" and nod approvingly at the camera.

Recipe Notes

This recipe nearly fills a 3.5 litre slow cooker. So be sure to adjust the quantities to suit your needs. As a dish it also freezes very well, so you can always stash some away for an evening when you haven't got time to whip something up fresh.

Recipe by

Me. I made this one.