It’s a strong belief of mine that delicious food doesn’t have to be expensive food, and a Daube de Boeuf is a prime example of this. Using a cheaper cut of meat but surrounding it with fragrant herbs and a long cooking time means you can save your pennies without scrimping on taste.
The Daube is a stew and derives its name from the pitcher shaped vessel it was traditionally cooked in, called a “daubière”. Don’t be intimidated if you’re fresh out of “daubières”, you can easily use any casserole dish.
Ingredients:
- 1.2kg blade steak
- 2 brown onions
- 6 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 peeled carrots
- 1 bottle of red wine
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 3 cloves
- 100 g pancetta, diced
- 50 black olive
- 150g dried cèpe mushroom
Method:
- Cut the beef into 3-4 cm chunk.
- Put the beef, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, onions, Cèpes, garlic, carrots, cloves and red wine in a bowl. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 24 hours, stirring once or twice.
- The next day tip the meat in a colander over a bowl and leave to drain well.
- Heat a large casserole with a little bit of olive oil, add half of the beef and sauté until brown all over, seasoning with salt and pepper, put the meat onto a plate and repeat the process with the other half of the meat.
- Add a little more olive oil and fry the pancetta until golden, you can the end bit of serrano ham or prosciutto if you have some. Add the drained vegetables from the marinade and cook on medium heat until the onions are starting to soften.
- Return the beef to the casserole along with the marinade, black olives, 1 teaspoon of salt and freshly ground black pepper about 20 turn of the mill.
- Cook on low to medium heat lid ¾ on for about 2 ½- 3 hours until the beef is tender.
- Mix 100g of soften unsalted butter with 90 g plain flour until you have a smooth paste. This is called a Beurre Manie.
- When the beef is tender, stir in the beurre manie and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- As a side I recommend a delicious macaroni and cheese or steam potatoes. You can also compliment this great dish with a glass of Côte Rotie “loss” Domaine Pichat -available from airoldifinewines.com.au
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