Beef in Stout

Preparation time:    30 mins
Cooking time:           3 hrs
Serves:                       4

What you need

800g John Penny beef shin, trimmed and cut into 5cm chunks
125g pancetta, cubed
25g butter or dripping
250g small shallots, peeled
30g plain flour
salt and pepper
2 x 440 ml cans stout or Guinness
A fresh bouquet garni (2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, a few stalks of parsley)
125g button mushrooms
125g portobello or chestnut mushrooms
A few fresh flat leaf parsley leaves

How to cook

Heat the butter in a large frying pan over a high heat and brown the pancetta.

Transfer the pancetta to a casserole dish, leaving the fat behind.

Gently fry the shallots in the fat until golden and add to the pancetta. Toss the beef in the flour with plenty of salt and pepper and brown it in the same pan in batches, transferring it to the casserole dish once coloured.

Deglaze the pan with stout, scraping the residue into the casserole along with the remaining stout, so it covers the meat, adding water if necessary.

Add the herbs and season. Bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer, with the lid on but not fully covering.

After two hours, heat a little butter in a frying pan and sweat the mushrooms over a medium heat for 8-10 minutes, or until they have shrunk and the juices have run out.

Add all this to the casserole and cook for 1 hour or until tender. Scatter with fresh parsley and serve with fluffy mashed potato or crusty bread.