Casserole a'la Boeuf Spoons

This has got to be one of mum's best sooo delicious and warming and just perfect for  a lazy January Sunday! Never made it before so rang mum and scribbled the briefest of instructions down on a post it and just added my little extra bits :-)

Mirek said it's one of the best meals I have ever made :-) and of course i asked him what was wrong with all my other dinners!

Top Tip Essential: when making the sauce, make sure you make a roux with flour and cold water if you need to thicken it up later when the sauce is in
- Also you can pretty much add any veg you have into this dish, just remember to fry the onions up first
- A joint of beef costing £8 will make enough dinner for 5/6 people
- (o) = optional

Crucials

Joint of beef
One onion
Six mushrooms
Six wild dry mushrooms (o)
One large carrot
One Red Pepper
One Star Anise (o - but a fab tip from Heston!)
Pinch of smoked paprika (o- this is very strong so make sure its just a pinch)
Salt & pepper
Plain Flour
Pint of cold water
Olive Oil
Two beef stock cubes
One chicken stock cube (o)
Small glass of red wine
Approx 20 peppercorns
Three large bay leaves

La Casserole Prep

• Set the oven to 160 degrees/gas mark 3
• Chop all the veg (carrots, mushrooms, pepper) up into small pieces and put aside. Keep the onions separate as you'll need to fry these first

• Slice the Beef joint up into slices approx 1/2 an inch thick
• Coat each slice of beef in plain flour

• Pour a glug of oil into a large frying pan and on a low heat fry the slices of beef until they start to brown around the edges, season with salt and pepper on both sides (this takes approx 8 mins)

• When they are done put them to one side and add the onions to the frying pan with the meat juices
• Fry gently until soft
• Add the rest of the veg and fry gently until they are all softened

• Then add one big spoonfull of plain white flour and stir so the veg is all coated
• Pour in the cold water and keep mixing until it all forms a sauce consistency
• Break in the stock cubes and keep stirring
• Add the star anise (o) bay leaves and all the peppercorns
• Add the red wine and keep stirring
• If the sauce is of the consistency you like then fab, if you need it to be a little thicker then take a tiny amount of flour and mix with the same amount of cold water and pour into your sauce stirring it in until smooth
• Add in a pinch of smoked paprika (o)
• Keep cooking the sauce for approx 20 mins
• Season to taste 
• In a large casserole bowl or pyrex dish add some of your sauce mixture, then add a layer of the beef slices
• Continue to layer.. sauce..beef...sauce and cover the dish then put it in the oven
• Cook in the oven for 3.5 hours

Serve with creamy mash potato and choice of veg, we had baby carrots and asparagus and i was so excited about it I forgot to take a picture of it plated, but this is what the leftovers look like. Hearty and really yum!