Beef with red wine & carrots

600 kcal or less batch cooking beef beef casserole beef recipe beef stew budget bulk comfort food recipe dinner party recipe mains over an hour red wine stew recipe value winter winter recipe

N/A

Makes 8 portions

Source

Ingredients

vegetable or sunflower oil , for frying

1 ½kg shin of beef or stewing beef, cut into cubes

3 tbsp flour

2 large onions, sliced

600g carrots, cut into batons

4 garlic cloves, crushed

glass red wine (about 175ml/6fl oz)

850ml beef stock

3 bay leaves

few thyme sprigs

jacket potatoes or mash, to serve

Method

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan. Put the beef in a bowl, sprinkle with the flour and seasoning, then mix until well coated. Fry in batches, adding more oil if necessary, until everything is well browned. Transfer to a casserole dish.

Add another tbsp oil to the pan and stir in the onion and carrots. Cover and gently cook for 10-12 mins until softened, then remove the lid and cook until just beginning to brown. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 min more. Pour in the wine and stir well, letting it boil up for 1 min, then pour the whole mixture over the meat. Add the stock, bay leaves and thyme, bring to a simmer, then cover and gently simmer for 2½ hrs until the meat is very tender. If the sauce looks a bit thin, remove the lid and continue to cook until it thickens. Eat half now; chill or freeze the rest for later (see 'Goes well with' for ideas on using the rest of the stew).