Haricot Of Beef

Total Time: 2 hrs 40 mins Preparation Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 3 lbs chuck steaks, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 ounce butter
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• 18 pearl onions or 18 shallots
• 1 ounce plain flour
• salt
• cayenne pepper
• 1 bunch mixed fresh herbs, tied together (thyme, parsley, and bayleaf)
• 1 lb carrot
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

Recipe

• 1 fry the meat in a heavy flameproof casserole dish with the butter and oil until lightly browned.
• 2 skin the onions by first dipping them for 1 minute in boiling water and then boiling them in 10 oz.
• 3 salted water until they are almost tender.
• 4 strain, keeping the liquid, and put the onions on one side.
• 5 sprinkle the flour into the casserole with the meat and let it brown.
• 6 add the cooking liquid from the onions.
• 7 season with salt and cayenne pepper, bury a tied bunch of herbs in the center of the meat and bring to the boil again.
• 8 cover the pan and simmer for 1½ hours, periodically adding a dash of stock if more liquid is needed.
• 9 prepare the carrots, either, if they are large, by cutting them in half lengthways and then cutting them in small pieces, or, if they are small, simply by scrubbing them.
• 10 put them in the stew, add the onions and the worcestershire sauce, stir it in and simmer for a further 30 minutes, until the meat and carrots are both tender.
• 11 serve if you like with a sprinkling of parsley, chopped shallot and the chopped yolk of a hard-boiled egg, all sprinkled very lightly with a dash of vinegar.
• 12 this stew needs good mashed potatoes or baked potatoes to mop up the gravy.