Tobie Puttock’s recipe for beef braised in red wine

BEEF BRAISED IN RED WINE

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 kg beef, shoulder or rump, cut into equal sized pieces
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Flour for dusting
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• Tablespoon of finely chopped rosemary
• 1 red chilli
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, washed, stalks and leaves roughly chopped and separated
• 10 sage leaves
• 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 celery stalks, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 250ml red wine
• 400g peeled tomatoes, tinned or fresh
• About 500ml beef stock or water
• 1 orange

Method:

In a pot large enough to comfortably hold all the ingredients heat about 4 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium heat.

Dust the beef with flour and seal it in the hot oil.

Once the meat is browned remove it from the pot and set aside.

Add a couple more tablespoons of oil to the pot with the garlic, rosemary, chilli, bay leaves, parsley stalk, sage, onion, celery and the carrot and gently saut? for about fifteen minutes.

Stir every couple of minutes to prevent anything sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Once the vegetables start to become soft add the meat back to the pot and cook on a high heat, after about a couple of minutes add the wine, allow it to reduce almost completely before adding the stock and the tomatoes.

Cover the pot, reduce the heat to a light simmer and cook for about 2-3 hours.

Pull a little piece of beef out every now and again and place it on a chopping board, if it falls apart when you give it a light press with your fingers it is tender and ready to go.

If the pan appears to become dry during cooking add more stock or water, it is important that there is ample moisture whilst cooking.

When it’s ready fold in the parsley leaves, grate in the zest of one orange and finish with extra virgin olive oil.