Spiced beef with stout & prunes

Cured spiced beef is very popular in Ireland around Christmas, and this braise uses the same spices. The stout gives the dish depth (it’s not bitter by the time the dish has finished cooking) and the prunes provide sweetness. The beauty of the dish is that it’s better when made a couple of days in advance, so you can have your main course done a few days before New Year’s Eve. I’d serve it with regular potato mash, or potato and celeriac mash, and buttered savoy cabbage.

SERVES 6 PREP 15 mins COOK 1 hr 50 mins EASY

1.4kg braising beef, cut into

2.5 cm pieces

3 tbsp vegetable oil 1 onion, inely chopped tsp ground allspice pinch of ground cloves 1 cinnamon stick

10 juniper berries, crushed grating of nutmeg 200ml stout 500ml beef stock

275g carrots (about 2 large),

cut into chunks

3 tsp muscovado sugar

2 bay leaves

125g pitted prunes,

roughly chopped

125g small baby onions

1 tbsp inely chopped parsley

1 Pat the beef dry using kitchen paper. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large flameproof casserole, and fry the beef in batches over a high heat until browned on all sides. Transfer the browned meat to a bowl, batch by batch, using a slotted spoon.

2 When all the meat is browned, heat another 1 tbsp oil in the casserole and fry the onion for 12 mins until soft and pale golden. Stir in the allspice, cloves, cinnamon stick, juniper berries, and a generous grating of nutmeg.

3 Pour in the stout and cook over a medium heat until it has reduced by half. Stir in the stock, carrots, sugar, bay leaves and some seasoning. Return the browned meat to the pan, bring the mixture the boil, then immediately reduce the heat to low and cover. Cook for 1 hr 30 mins, stirring and checking the seasoning every so often. In the last 20 mins of cooking time, stir in the prunes (if you do this any sooner, the prunes will fall apart).

4 Meanwhile, peel the baby onions and fry these in a small frying pan in the remaining oil over a mediumlow heat until golden on the outside and soft in the middle (you may need to add a little stock or water to the pan to help them soften, if they’re slightly bigger). They should be tender, but not falling apart. Stir these into the braise, check the seasoning again, and scatter over the chopped parsley before serving.

GOOD TO KNOW iron • 2 of 5-a-day

PER SERVING 504 kcals • fat 25g • saturates 8g • carbs 16g • sugars 15g • ibre 4g • protein 49g • salt 0.3g