Beef Casserole (or using-up-stuff-stew)

I hate wasting food. It goes against everything I believe in and I just don’t think there’s any need for it. With a bit of planning ahead and a lot of freezer space everything can get used.

We’re normally pretty good at sensible shopping, but this morning I found myself with: A third of a bottle of red – about a week past its best; half a butternut squash (after last week’s butternut squash risotto); and about five peppers (due to a shopping list malfunction).

I decided to make a big, slow cooked, autumnal casserole to feed us for about a week. (I’m on a bad run of shifts). So I took myself down to the butcher and bought some beef shin.  If you haven’t used it before, I’d highly recommend it. It’s not very pretty – sinewy and fatty – but when you cook it for ages that just means amazing flavour. It’s also really cheap. I’ve yet to find a similar stewing cut that becomes so soft and delicious. But of course you can use whatever slow cooking cut you can lay your hands on. 

Bulking out the meat with lots of vegetables makes it a bit healthier and makes the most of the meat – which is the most expensive part of the dish. It also means it’s not too heavy and you don’t need to lie down immediately after it.  Of course you don’t have to use the veg listed here. Use whatever needs saving from the bin.

This is very easy, once you’ve browned the meat and chopped the veg you’re more or less done. Make this after lunch, shove it in the oven for the afternoon while you do other things, then serve with a carb of your choice. We had rice, because after fish and chips last night I’ve ODed on potatoes. It’s also nice with some steamed greens.

Ingredients:

2lb beef shin, chopped to casserole sized pieces

2 tablespoons plain flour

Half a squash, deseeded and chopped into chunks (I couldn’t be bothered to peel it)

2 onions, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2 peppers, sliced

A handful of chestnut mushrooms, sliced

A stick of celery, chopped

Two bay leaves and a couple of sprigs of rosemary

A tablespoon of tomato puree

A third of a bottle of red wine

A pint and a half of beef stock (I just used one cube and extra water)

Salt and pepper

Put the oven on to preheat at 160 degrees.

Toss the beef in the flour and salt and pepper, and heat up some oil in a big ovenproof casserole dish on the hob.

Brown the meat in batches over a medium/high heat. Don’t overcrowd the pan, or it’ll steam. You want to get some good crispy colour on the edges of it, and try and do all sides. Put aside in a bowl. There will be lots of brown sticky bits on the bottom of the pan, but it's supposed to look like that.

It's supposed to look like that.

I sliced the veg whilst doing that, but you might prefer to have everything ready before you start. 

Once the meat is all browned, add the onions, celery, garlic and squash to the pan with a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat, give it a stir, then stick the lid on. After five minutes it should have started to sweat down, add the peppers and mushrooms. You’ll find all the meaty crispy bits on the bottom of the pan are now easy to scrape up.

Scrunch up the herbs in your hand and throw them in whole.  They’ll add lots of flavour, just don’t dish them up or try and eat a leaf or twig.

After a few minutes, add the tomato puree, stir it in and cook for a few minutes. Then put the meat back in the pan, add the wine and turn up the heat to cook off some of the alcohol. Add the stock, give it all a stir and put the lid on. 

Shove it in the oven, and go off to do something else for a while. Check it every hour or so, if it’s starting to dry out add some more water. I left it in for about three and a half hours.

Then when it comes out it has reduced, the beef has melted, and most of the veg has all but disappeared into the sauce. Lovely.

Not that pretty, but pretty delicious.