Beef Bourguignon with Crispy baby potatoes

What I love about my beef bourguignon is the fact that it tastes better as the days goes on. You can batch cook and freeze this or have it on day one and three like we tend to do here. Serve with baby potatoes or roasted sweet potato wedges on the first day and rice the next time you serve it, and don’t forget some bread to wipe up the sauce. This is my take of a classic slow cooked beef casserole which the whole family will enjoy.

Ingredients

Bacon lardons or chopped up rashers

Beef (I buy diced sirloin beef but stewing beef is good here also)

Two large carrots or a handful of small baby carrots

Punnet of mushrooms(chestnut adds more depth and are in most supermarkets for the same price as standard mushrooms)

One large onion chopped

Three cloves of garlic minced

Tin of tomatoes

Jar of passata

3 tablespoons of tomato puree

Three tablespoons of red wine vinegar

Three tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons of wholegrain mustard

Litre of beef stock

Three tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

One teaspoon of Italian seasoning

Three bay leaves

One teaspoon of garlic granules

One teaspoon of onion powder

(cornflour optional)

Method

In a large casserole pot brown off your beef in some butter, throwing in the lardons in the last few minutes to cook off aswell.

Take out your meat and cook the onion and garlic until softened.

Add the chopped or( baby) carrots and mushrooms and continue to fry on a medium heat.

Add your Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, red wine vinegar, mustard and all your herbs and continue to sweat for a minute.

Add your passata and stock and cook on a medium heat for 1.5 to two hours. ( I sometimes top up with stock if I feel the meat needs a little longer to tenderise)

Serve with greens and baby potatoes, or sweet potatoes or rice for alternative serving suggestions.

Oh and don’t forget that dipping bread!