Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Baba's Beef Casserole

As a little sideline/to keep me sane, I do a bit of mystery shopping. It certainly won't make me a fortune, but it's interesting and one of the jobs means that I get to go food shopping & keep the proceeds.

I did one on Monday & when I did the fresh meat section, decided to get some rib steak for a stew - it was cold and I had veggies to use up. So this is what I made...

Baba's Beef Casserole
1kg rib steak
3 leeks
3 sticks of celery
3-4 carrots
3 red onions
Thyme (fresh or dried - whatever you have)
2 small cartons crushed tomatoes
2 glasses red wine
salt & pepper

Peel & chop your veg so it's all roughly the same size. Stick it in a large bowl.
Put some olive oil & butter in a casserole dish (I am very lucky to have a cream Le Creuset one), let it melt & add the veggies. Stir for about 5-10 mins, then season, including the thyme. When slightly softened, tip back into the bowl.

Chop your rib steak into decent sized chunks & dust with flour. Add a tiny bit more oil to the pan and throw in the steak. Let it brown and then put into the veggie bowl.

Deglaze the casserole with one glass of red wine, scraping up all the stuck on bits. Put the meat & veg back in, add the rest of the wine (I use large glasses) and the tomatoes.

Bring the whole lot to the boil and then cover with foil, stick the lid on, and put it into the oven at Gas 5/180c for 2 and a half hours. This quantity completely fills my casserole dish, so there may be a tiny bit of spillage. Check the casserole every hour, giving it a good stir.
As there's not enough veg in it for me to feel virtuous, I then slice a small punnet of mushrooms, chop 2-3 courgettes & saute them in a bit of olive oil & garlic, seasoning with salt & pepper. Then I add 2 portions of the casserole to this & mix it all up. If it's too thick, add a bit of beef or vegetable stock.

This will feed 6 people easily and freezes like a dream. Serve with some nice mash - tonight's one is root veg.

Enjoy!



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