Pot-roast beef with French onion gravy
Sabtu, 02 Mei 2020
Ingredients
·
1kg silverside or
topside of beef, with no added fat
·
2 tbsp olive oil
·
8 young carrots, tops
trimmed (but leave a little, if you like)
·
1 celery stick, finely
chopped
·
200ml white wine
·
600ml rich beef stock
·
2 bay leaves
·
500g onion
·
a few thyme
·
sprigs
·
1 tsp butter
·
1 tsp light brown or
light muscovado sugar
·
2 tsp plain flour
Method
1.
Heat oven to 160C/140C
fan/gas 3. Rub the meat with 1 tsp of the oil and plenty of seasoning. Heat a
large flameproof casserole dish and brown the meat all over for about 10 mins.
Meanwhile, add 2 tsp oil to a frying pan and fry the carrots and celery for 10
mins until turning golden.
2.
Lift the beef onto a
plate, splash the wine into the hot casserole and boil for 2 mins. Pour in the
stock, return the beef, then tuck in the carrots, celery and bay leaves, trying
not to submerge the carrots too much. Cover and cook in the oven for 2 hrs. (I
like to turn the beef halfway through cooking.)
3.
Meanwhile, thinly slice
the onions. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and stir in the onions, thyme and some
seasoning. Cover and cook gently for 20 mins until the onions are softened but
not coloured. Remove the lid, turn up the heat, add the butter and sugar, then
let the onions caramelise to a dark golden brown, stirring often. Remove the
thyme sprigs, then set aside.
4.
When the beef is ready,
it will be tender and easy to pull apart at the edges. Remove it from the
casserole and snip off the strings. Reheat the onion pan, stir in the flour and
cook for 1 min. Whisk the floury onions into the beefy juices in the casserole,
to make a thick onion gravy. Taste for seasoning. Add the beef and carrots back
to the casserole, or slice the beef and bring to the table on a platter, with
the carrots to the side and the gravy spooned over.