Carbonnade of Beef

We've had way too much turkey and ham, so I thought it would be nice to have some real BEEF! As we are beef farmers there is a certain obligation to consume some of this delicious meat. As DH got far too many bottles of beer at Christmas, I blagged one off him, not difficult as he loves this beef cooked in beer almost more than drinking the beer!

Carbonnade of Beef from Judith Wills Top 200 Low Fat Recipes (you see it's good for you too!)
Serves 4, 325 calories per portion, 11.5 fat per portion

cooking oil spray
500g lean braising steak, trimmed and cut into 6 x 5 cm mini steaks (I just cut it into 1 inch cubes)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
500ml stout or other dark beer
1 beef stock cube, crumbled
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, to garnish

1. Spray a large, shallow non-stick frying pan with a little cooking oil, heat until hot and brown the meat on allsides, then trnsfer it to a casserole dish.
2. Add the olive oil to the pan and saute the onions over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and sugar to the pan, stir well, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for another 10 minutes or until the onions start to caramelise.
3. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, then add the stout, stock cube and tomoato puree, stir well and bring to a simmer.
4. Transfer the onion mixture to the casserole dish and mix with the beef. Add the bay leaf and plenty of seasoning, cover and cook in a preheated oven, 170C/335F/Gas 3.5 for 2 hours.
t5. Check the seasoning, remove the bay leaf and serve garnished with the parsley.

Serving suggestion: Boiled potatoes, dark green cabbage and carrots are delicious with the beef.

You will notice that I put carrots IN my stew, I also used only 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp of brown sugar, still tasted delicious. The gravy in this stew is just so rich and delicious, that I find mash is the best for soaking it up!

Labels: Beef, beer, Judith Wills, low fat

posted by Janice @ 20:28 13 Comments