How
many it serves: 2
Preparation time:30 Mins
Category : Stews Casseroles
Type: Beef
Ingredients
- 900g/2lb top rump of beef
- 4 tbsp brandy
- 180ml/6fl oz red wine
- a bouquet garni of thyme, parsley and bay leaf
- a little strip orange peel
- clove garlic, crushed
- butter and olive oil, for browning
- 170g/6oz black olives, stoned
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Recipe Steps
- Cut the meat into small neat cubes, not more than 2.5cm/1in square. Heat the oil and brown them in a mixture of olive oil and butter. Warm the brandy in a soup ladle, pour it over the meat, set light to it, shake the pan until the flames go out.
- Add the red wine, let it bubble fast for about half a minute. Season with a little salt and pepper, put in the bouquet tied with thread, turn the flame as low as possible, cover the pan with at least two layers of greaseproof paper and the lid.
- Cook as gently as possible, on top of the stove, with a mat underneath the pan for about 3 ½ hours. Ten minutes before serving remove the bouquet and put in the stoned black olives. Taste for seasoning before serving.
- The flaming with the brandy, although not absolutely essential, burns up the excess fat and makes a difference to the flavour of the finished sauce, which will be a short one, most of the liquid having been absorbed by the meat. The old Nimoise cook who showed me how to make this particular version of the dish used Chateauneuf de Pape to cook it in (we were in the district, so it wasn't so extravagant as it sounds, and it most definately pays to use a decent and full-bodied wine for these beef stews) and she garnished the dish with heart-shaped croutons of fried bread instead of rice.
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