Its never too soon for a Bourguignon...

If you have 3 hours to spare before dinner (and yes it is going to take that long) then you could do much worse than to prepare a delicious beef bourguignon. Let me sell it to you...
1) One pot - less washing up
2) Uses red wine where other sauces use water
3) tastes AMAZING and basically makes you look like a super chef!

Right so we're committing to spending these three hours together so lets get started.... for four hungry people you will need.....

·       800gr stewing steak

·       200gr lardons/ pancetta/ smoked streaky bacon

·       1 bottle of red wine

·       800ml of beef stock

·       2 onions - chopped

·       200g shallots/ baby onions - just peel em!

·       2 cloves of garlic - chopped

·       some flour and salt and pepper

·       a few sprigs of thyme, flat lead parsley and 2 bay leaves

·       100g button mushrooms

·       BUTTER - get President if you can (might as well get in the French mood)

1) Right step one - mix your flour and salt and pepper and roll the beef about in it, make sure its all covered. Put a glug of olive oil in a big casserole thats ok on the hob - gently fry your lardons and then after 4-5mins add in your beef and fry for a further 4-5mins until its all getting a nice colour.

2) Now add your onions and garlic and cook for a further 5mins until they have softened. Now.... Add 500ml of wine and stock and your herbs, pop a lid on and leave it for 2 hours on a low heat until it thickens up. Be warned - your house will smell amazing!

3) after 1.45 hours go and peel enough spuds for your diners and pop them on to boil in some salted water. In a frying pan, melt 25g of butter and gently fry your shallots/ baby onions until they have colour and are softened. When done - add the mushrooms and put the whole lot in the main casserole, stir it up and leave it for another 30mins.

4) whilst that is cooking top and tail some chatenay carrots and slice in half lengthways. In the frying pan melt 50g of butter, add 2 tbsp of honey and 2 tbsp of sugar - melt it all up into a big caramlely gloop! Add your carrots and fry/ bubble for 4 mins. Add 150ml of water and turn down - leave to simmer for 20mins or until tender.

5) Serve with a glass of red (well you only used 2/3rds of the bottle!) and enjoy!

gosh those three hours just flew by!