FRAGRANT BEEF AND HONEY CASSEROLE
Honey and beef?
As it happens honey gives this slow-cooked beef casserole recipe a comforting sweetness on a chilly autumn evening. Serve with fluffy mashed potato and a green veg of your choice.
Ingredients
- 30g/1oz of plain flour
- 450g/1lb braising steak, cut into 2.5cm/1in cubes
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or beef dripping)
- 1 white onion, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 leeks, roughly chopped
- 1/2 a medium turnip, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon of Haughton Honey
- 250ml/half a pint of rich beef stock
- 250ml/half a pint of real ale
- 1 whole star anise
- Salt and freshly ground black or mixed pepper
- A splash of Worcestershire Sauce
- Chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
Notes for the cook
If you have a fan-assisted oven then reduce the specified temperature in the recipe by about 15%.
1 teaspoon = 5ml
1 tablespoon = 15ml
Some ingredients are measured in cups and some equivalents are;
150g, 6oz (1/2 cup) = 120ml, 4fl oz.
Instructions
- Place the flour in a freezer bag with the pepper then add the cubes of meat and shake well to coat.
- Heat the oil in a large casserole and brown the meat on all sides (handy tip - do this in smaller batches as adding too much meat at once makes the meat steam rather than brown).
- Fry the onion in the same pan you used for the meat, adding more oil if necessary. Once the onion is browned add the carrots, leeks, turnip, honey, beef stock, ale, star anise and Worcestershire Sauce and return the meat to the pan.
- Cover the pan with a sheet of kitchen foil and a lid and place the casserole in to the preheated oven for at least two hours – the longer it cooks, the better it will be.
- Season to your taste with sea salt and more freshly ground black pepper and sprinkle with the parsley before serving.