Fruits of the Forrest: Boeuf a la Bourguignonne

Nothing more or less than good classical cooking, this. The three keys to the dish are to use plenty of wine, cook it for long enough, and refresh the sauce with extra wine at the end. Do these things and you can't go wrong. It seems involved at first but after you've done it once it becomes very easy, with quick stints at the stove spaced out by long periods doing something completely different.

Boeuf a la Bourguignonne

Serves 5

1kg stewing beef (chuck, cap of ribeye, shin, brisket, cheek, oxtail) bought in one piece, cut into 2 inch cubes respecting the muscle structure of the meat and with excess fat removed.

1 bottle of red wine. Something costing between £4 and £6 is the right level to go for. It should have sufficient body and tannins to create a strong sauce. I use a vin de pays d'oc.

1 large onion, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and cut into inch sections
a bouquet garni (a large bunch of thyme and a bay leaf tied between two halves of a celery stick)
a dash of cognac
olive oil
flour

for the garnish:
a handful of button mushrooms and button onions, or quartered regular mushrooms and a roughly diced large onion
some lardons, or sliced streaky bacon pieces
butter

Place the meat in a large bowl with the onion and carrot. Sprinkle with olive oil and the cognac, and cover with all but an inch of the wine. Cover with cling film and leave to marinate for 2 hours at room temperature (or longer in a fridge).

Pour the contents into a colander over another bowl and heat a large, heavy based pan (not non-stick) with 3mm of veg oil in the bottom over a high heat. Dry the meat cubes on kitchen paper and brown well on all sides, in small batches. Use tongs and it may be best to cover the pan with one of those splash preventer things. Note that the final character of the dish will depend on taking this browning, and that of the onions, to just the right stage.

In a separate casserole dish, at the same time, melt some butter and sweat the onion from the marinade until well browned, seasoning with salt. Add the carrot and a tablespoon of flour. Cook over a low heat, stirring for a minute to cook out the flour. It's better to add the flour like this rather than tossing the meat in the flour, as this just resuts in browning the flour not the meat.

Pour off the oil from the meat pan into a bowl to be disposed of, then pour in the marinade liquid and scrape the base with a wooden spoon. Pour into the casserole dish with the meat and tuck in the bouquet garni. Add water if needed to cover as you can always reduce the sauce afterwards. Bring to a simmer over a moderate heat, cover with a cartouche (a piece of foil or baking parchment acting as a muffle over the stew) then the lid. Simmer for 20 minutes to be sure it is hot through, then place in the oven at 140C for 4 hours.

Remove from the oven, lift the lid and ladle or pour the contents into the colander again over a bowl. Pick out the meat and discard the rest. Add the liquid back to the casserole, bring it up to the simmer and pull the dish to the side over a low heat. A scum will gather on the side away from the heat, which you must skim off. Then reduce the sauce until it is well concentrated, and refresh with the remaining splash of red wine.

Meanwhile you will have sweated the garnish ingredients one at a time in butter. Add these with the meat to the finished sauce. Season with pepper and heat through together for 15 minutes.

Lovely with mash or parslied potatoes, green veg and carrots, and a glass of Burgundy. Maybe some wholegrain mustard too.