Featherblade Bourguignon

Boeuf Bourguignon is a simple beef and red wine stew. Purists believe that it should be made with a whole bottle of wine and no stock, and that the stewing veg should remain in the sauce. It’s delicious like this but I like to refine my version by using a featherblade beef cut, which despite stewing will cook to show a bright pink middle of sticky, soft, falling-apart meat and a glossy sauce.

SERVES 4

Olive oil

4 featherblade beef steaks, each about

3cm thick

2 carrots, roughly chopped

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 celery stick, roughly chopped, plus a handful of celery leaves

1 bulb of garlic, cut in half horizontally

1 tsp of tomato purée 2 tsps of plain flour 500ml of red

Burgundy wine

500ml of fresh beef stock (see page 141) 1 bay leaf

2 rosemary sprigs

4–5 thyme sprigs

4–5 parsley sprigs plus 1 tbsp of chopped parsley 150g of smoked bacon lardons 12 fresh or frozen baby onions or shallots, peeled 100g of button mushrooms

Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

FOR the Perfect creamy mash

800g of potatoes,

● peeled and cut into chunks

150g of butter

50ml of milk

25ml of double cream a good grating of nutmeg tons of salt and white pepper

1 To make the stock, follow the recipe for the white chicken stock in the chilled cucumber soup overleaf (page 141), but swap the chicken carcasses for 2kg of beef shin bones, roasting them first with the veggies in a really hot oven for 30 minutes, or until they have become golden and caramelised (be careful not to burn them or the charred flavour will transfer to the stock).

2 To make the stew, heat a frying pan until really hot. Add one tablespoon of oil. Season the featherblade steaks with salt and pepper and then fry them for 2–3 minutes on each side to give some caramelisation to the beef. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3 Add a spot more oil to the pan if necessary, then add the carrots, onion and celery and fry them over a medium heat for 5–8 minutes, making sure to scrape away at the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to remove any meaty bits that have been left behind after frying the steaks; this will add to the flavour. For the final minute, increase the heat and make space for the garlic halves. Fry them until the cut side is golden, making sure to keep the veggies moving around the pan while the garlic is frying.

4 Remove the garlic from the pan and set aside with the steaks. Now add the tomato purée and fry the veg in the purée; this will caramelise around them. Add the flour and stir to coat the vegetables. Cook the flour for one minute, then pour over the wine and stock and bring to the boil. Transfer to a medium casserole dish with a lid. Lower the heat to a simmer, add the steaks, garlic, bay leaf and rosemary, thyme and parsley sprigs to the casserole, cover with the lid and cook on the hob for 2½ hours, or until the steak is starting to fall apart.

5 Remove the steaks from the stew, being really careful not to let them break up, and lay them on a plate. Now you need to strain out and discard all of the stewing vegetables, so place a sieve over a large bowl and pour the liquor into the sieve. It will be fairly watery with a hint of beefy flavour. Wash out the casserole dish and then pour the liquor back into it. We now want to reduce the sauce in order to make the flavour really punchy before adding in our garnishes, so put the casserole back on the hob and bring to a gentle simmer over a low heat.

6 Heat one teaspoon of oil in a large frying pan and fry the bacon lardons until the fat has rendered away and the bacon is crisp and golden. Transfer the bacon to the casserole with the sauce. Add the onions to the frying pan and fry them for 3–4 minutes, stirring constantly, until they are golden, then transfer them to the casserole. Finally, add a spot more oil to the frying pan and fry the mushrooms until they are golden. Transfer the mushrooms to the casserole. Return the steaks to the casserole and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and is really flavourful and meaty, then season to taste.

7 For the perfect creamy mash, boil the potatoes in a large pan of salted water for 20 minutes. Drain and leave to steam in a colander until dry, then tip out into a clean pan and mash or crush through a potato ricer until really smooth. With a balloon whisk, whip in the butter, milk, cream and nutmeg over a very low heat until it is piping hot, then season with plenty of salt and pepper before serving straight away with the Bourguignon and a sprinkle of chopped parsley.