Beef & Ale Stew

Ingredients

• 600 ml hot beef stock
• 30 g plain flour, for dusting
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 200 g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 800 g braising steak, cut into 3cm cubes
• 330 ml brown ale
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• 1 crusty loaf

Method

1. Pat the beef cubes thoroughly dry with kitchen paper. Season generously with salt and pepper, then toss in the flour to give a fine, even dusting.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat until it shimmers. Brown the beef in two or three batches; don't crowd the pan. All at once and the cubes steam in their own juices instead of building that deep, savoury crust the whole stew leans on. Each batch wants 3–4 minutes a side, until properly mahogany. Transfer to a plate.
3. Drop the heat to medium, add the remaining oil, and soften the onion and carrots for 6–8 minutes until translucent and catching gold at the edges. Stir in the crushed garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant.
4. Stir in the tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce, coating the vegetables in the rust-coloured paste, and let it cook out for a minute until it darkens a shade. Pour in the brown ale and scrape the base hard with a wooden spoon.
5. Return the beef and any resting juices to the pan. Add the hot beef stock, the bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook on the lowest hob setting for about 2¼ hours (or in the oven at 160°C fan for 2 hours), until the beef pulls apart under the back of a spoon and the gravy has gone glossy and dark.
6. Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms in a separate frying pan with a splash of oil over a high heat for 4–5 minutes; single layer, don't stir too soon; until they're deeply golden and squeaky. Crowded mushrooms steam grey; spaced ones colour properly. Add them to the stew for the final 10 minutes so they keep their bite.
7. Fish out the bay leaf and thyme stems. If the gravy is loose, simmer uncovered for a few minutes until it clings to the back of a spoon. The long braise mute the seasoning, so it almost always wants another pinch.
8. Ladle into warm bowls, scatter the chopped parsley over the top, and serve with torn hunks of the crusty loaf for dragging through the dark, glossy gravy.