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BURGUNDY BEEF WITH WILD MUSHROOMS

This French recipe brings together some of my most treasured ingredients. Lovely, hefty red wine, gorgeous earthy wild mushrooms and good country smokey bacon. They all combine perfectly to make this superb soup.

TO SERVE SIX

3 tbsp olive oil

100g/3¹/₂oz bacon lardons cut into 1cm/1/2 inch sticks

500ml/18fl oz beef stock (see page 184)

300g/11oz shallots or pickling onions peeled

400g/14oz fresh chanterelle mushrooms

2 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped

1 handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tbsp plain flour

400g/14oz chuck steak cut into 1cm/1/2 inch cubes

4 tbsp marc de Bourgogne or Cognac

¹/₂ bottle of red wine such as Burgundy or something hefty

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large pan and fry the bacon until it begins to crisp and brown. Pour the stock into a small saucepan and plop in the onions. Simmer gently for 10 minutes. Lift the bacon out of the pan and set aside. Drain the onions, reserving the stock, and fry them with the mushrooms in the bacon fat until beginning to brown. Add the garlic and parsley and stir through, then cook for a couple of minutes, remove from the pan and set aside.

Mix the flour and meat in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and fry the meat on all sides until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and return to the bowl. Pour the marc or Cognac into the pot and bubble, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up the flour that has cooked onto the bottom of the pan. Add a little of the wine if it boils dry. Keep stirring until all the flour has been incorporated into the liquid and you have a smooth sauce before adding any more wine.

Return the meat to the pan with the rest of the wine and the reserved stock and stir through. Leave to simmer gently for 2 hours. Stir every now and then and add a little hot water if it starts to get dry. Drop in the bacon, mushrooms and onions, heat through, and add hot water until it reaches your desired consistency. Season to taste and serve with slabs of country bread and fresh butter.