A hearty meal and, I think the Ultimate French comfort food! Tender, falling apart rolled beef brisket, rich full-bodied red wine, smokey bacon, flavourful shallots paired with crispy, fluffy mini garlic n thyme roasties and crunchy wok-fried Kale. Such an amazing, substantial dish, I serve mine with carrots instead of mushrooms, but you do you :)
Ingredients (Serves 4):
500-600G Rolled Beef Brisket
Plain flour
Olive Oil
6 x Rashers Smoked Streaky Bacon
Bag of Shallots
1 x Large Carrott
3 x Garlic Cloves
Tomato & Herb Purée
Bouquet Garni - (Fresh Thyme, Parsley, Bay Leaves)
750Ml Red Wine (Full-bodied, oaky, French wine works best in this dish)
1 x Beef Stock Pot / Cube
Fresh Kale
New Potatoes
Beef Dripping
Rock Salt & Black Pepper
A little Butter
Method Beef Bourguignon:
Take your beef brisket out of the fridge, to come up to room temperature. In the meantime prepare the veg, herbs and streaky bacon:
Peel and slice the carrot, take these slices and halve them to form half-moons.
Peel your shallots, and slice any large ones in half.
Peel and finely slice your garlic cloves.
Slice your streaky bacon into small pieces.
Make a Bouquet Garni by getting a bunch of fresh Thyme, Parsley and 2-3 bay leaves. Tie this together so it can't separate and set aside.
Take your brisket and remove any excess fat/sinus. Slice into chunks, remember this will be cooking for 3-4 hours, so don't make them too small! Once these are ready set them on a plate and dust with plain flour, rock salt and black pepper. Now give these some colour using a cast iron pan or skillet over a high heat, with some olive oil, for a few mins on each side. Set aside and drain whilst you cook the veg.
Preheat your oven to 150C. Using the same pan, chuck in your carrots, shallots, garlic and bacon and cook over a medium heat for 5-8 mins to soften the veg with a few knobs of butter. Season and once softened down a little add 2 Tbsp of your Tomato & Herb Purée. Cook this out for 2 mins, and add back your beef brisket chunks. Now add your red wine, stirring to bring everything together.
Once this is simmering, add your Bouquet Garni and some extra thyme leaves (be careful not to add any stalk!). Then add your stock cube and around 100ml of water. Bring this to the boil. Give it a good stir, check for seasoning, and then place in the oven at 150C for 3-4 hours. You want to check the Beef Bourguignon every hour, give it a good stir, check for seasoning and ensure it is thickening up well. Once ready the sauce will have thickened up, and the beef will be falling apart. Serve with finely chopped curly parsley to garnish.
Method Garlic n Thyme Mini Roasties / Wok Fried Kale:
Take your new potatoes, and cut any larger ones down the middle, so you end up with a bunch of new potatoes of a similar size. Wash these well, and boil in salted water for around 20 mins until soft. Set these aside to steam dry, slightly crushing them with a fork. In the meantime pop, some olive oil and beef dripping (50/50 olive oil to beef dripping) in a roasting dray and pop this into a preheated oven at 200C. Once the oil/beef dripping is ready and smoking hot, and the potatoes have steamed dry, pop these into the roasting tray and season well with rock salt and pepper.
Cook these for around 40 mins, turning regularly. Just before they are ready chuck in 3 cloves of crushed garlic, some more rock salt, and some fresh thyme. Stir up the potatoes, garlic, salt and thyme in the oil and cook for another 5-10 mins, drain and serve.
To cook the wok-fried Kale, take some fresh Kale and fry this on a high heat with rock salt and pepper and sunflower oil in a sturdy Wok until slightly crispy, serve immediately with a little more rock salt.
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