1 glass of red wine or, like me, an enthusiastic glug of vermouth
Oil to cook
1 punnet of chestnut mushrooms quartered
Something to serve it with – mashed potato is always good
Steps
Heat about 1tbsp of oil in a pan big enough to house all the items
Cube the beef up into decent sized chunks, this isn't time to fanny around with bite sized pieces of pre-cut stewing scraps, we're all adults here
Brown the beef in batches, removing to a bowl after each batch
Once all the beef is done, pour the wine into the pan and scrape the bottom, pour this winey beef concoction into your beef bowl for later.
Add another tbsp or so of oil to the pan
When heated, add your onions and carrots and sautée until onions are soft
Add garlic and let cook for about 30 seconds to 1 min
Add tomato puree and cook for at least 5 minutes, see tips below
Add beef and stock
Bring up to a boil and then reduce to as low as you can physically handle, you can always ramp it up later on.
Cook for like 4-6 hours, I don't give a fuck really, just wait until it's done. If you're starting this at 5pm then you're doomed.
At some point, maybe around 40 mins before you want to eat, prep your mushrooms – see tips
Fry them until brown
When they're appropriately mushroomed, put them in the stew
Crank the stew heat up and cook until preferred consistency
Eat
Tips
Pre diced stewing beef is for fascists, be a grown up and dice up a proper bit of beef – it'll taste better and be better consistency
Brown your meat properly – this doesn't mean show it pictures of fire until turns grey, it means let it sizzle in the pan. It will stick. It will unstick when brown enough. Think seared.
Tomato puree is bitter so it needs to be cooked, 5-7 minutes for a tbsp is ideal, trust me.
Here's a thing, peeled mushrooms are where it's att, it's a lot of effort but its sort of satisfying, it will stop people who "don't like mushrooms" from not liking therm
