Beef in Ale Stew

I cooked this recipe this weekend and it was wonderful. It calls for 1.5 k of beef and I found that was far more than you would need for 6 people. However, it does give you lots of lovely leftovers.

Ingredients

50 g butter
250g salt pork, pancetta or slab bacon, cut into 2.5cm cubes
500g white onions, peeled, halved and sliced
up to 50g plain (all purpose flour)
salt and ground black pepper
500ml good beef stock
2 bay leaves
a few parsley stalks

1. Heat the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and brown the pancetta until the fat runs. Transfer to a casserole.

2. Reduce the heat to low and in the same pan gently fry the onions, stirring occasionally, until soft and starting to turn golden (about 15 minutes). Transfer to the casserole.

3. Toss the beef in seasoned four, shaking off any excess, and in the same pan brown the meat in batches. transfer it to the casserole when nicely coloured on all sides.

4. Pour some ale into the pan to deglaze, making sure you scrape up the tasty bits stuck to the bottom, then tip into the casserole. Pour the rest of the ale and stock over the meat, adding a little water if needed to cover the meat.

5. Add the herbs, tied into a bouquet garni, and season.

6. Bring to boil a boil, then simmer very gently, partially covered, for 2 and a half hours for chuck/stewing steak, three hours for shin, until the meat is really tender - do this on the stove or in a very low oven (120C/235F/gas mark 1/2).

7. Add hot water if the meat gets exposed and starts to dry out.

(If you want to cook dumplings, add them for the last 45 minutes.)

I'll post a recipe for dumplings tomorrow.