Food Safari's beef bourguignon

This lovely French recipe features tender beef cooked to perfection. The speck adds a delicious smoky pork flavour and the carrot puree stirred through towards the end adds colour and sweetness. Serve it with fresh sourdough.

• serves

  6

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  1:15 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 125 ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 kg beef (preferably wagyu but any braising beef, such as rump, topside or chuck steak is fine), cut into large chunks 
• 2 carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced 
• 2 celery stalks with leaves, halved lengthwise and sliced 
• 1 leek, halved lengthwise and sliced 
• 1 onion, chopped 
• 5 French shallots, halved 
• 10 thyme sprigs 
• 7 bay leaves 
• 300 g speck, diced 
• 500 ml (2 cups) red wine, boiled briefly to reduce acidity 
• salt and pepper 
• 300 g button mushrooms 
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Carrot puree

• 5 carrots, chopped
• salt

Mashed potatoes

• 6 large desiree potatoes
• salt
• 200 ml milk
• 100 g butter

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium–high heat. Brown the beef in batches. Remove the final batch of beef from the pan, leaving the oil, and add the carrot, celery, leek, onion and shallots. Sauté for 5–8 minutes.

 

Place the beef and vegetables in a large baking dish. Stir in the thyme, bay leaves and speck. Pour over the red wine, season with salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to very low and cook for 40 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, prepare the carrot puree by boiling the carrots with salt until just soft. Puree.

 

To make the mashed potatoes, boil them whole with salt until soft. Peel, return them to the saucepan and mash finely. Stir the mash over medium heat for 3–5 minutes to remove excess water (this will also add air to the potatoes, making them light and fluffy). Warm the milk in a separate saucepan and gradually add to the mash. Stir in the butter. Cover the mash with a lid or plastic wrap and keep warm.

 

Add the mushrooms and carrot puree to the bourguignon and cook for a further 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the parsley.

 

Serve the bourguignon with the mashed potatoes and sourdough.

 

 

Photography by Benito Martin. Styling by Lynsey Fryers. Food preparation by Alice Storey and Georgina Larby. Creative concept by Belinda So.Want more recipes like this? We recommend: 

• Luke Nguyen's French beef stew (pot-au-feu).

• Comfort food classics: 320+ casseroles.

• 320+ beef recipes: stews, curies, meatballs and more.

• Another idea: veal osso buco with anchovy gremolata.

• 460+ French recipes, plus our cuisine guide.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.