Beef stew with cannellini beans and broccolini

A classic combination with the slow cooked beef and cannellini beans. It is a good do-ahead dish suitable for a crowd. This also freezes well and leftovers are delicious tossed through pasta

 Serve it with broccolini and if you are feeling green and healthy, why not quickly cook some wilted spinach which goes so well with this dish (I’ve included this in the ingredients)! Alternatively you could cook some mashed potatoes or kumara if you prefer

 Soak up the sauce with a baguette

Ingredients

1 kg stewing beef such as blade, chuck, brisket or cheeks – I use chuck cut into large 5 cm pieces

4 tbs olive oil

2 large onions coarsely chopped

500 mls beef stock

2 carrots peeled and coarsely chopped

2 sticks celery coarsely chopped

200 gms pancetta lardons finely diced or 250 gms streaky bacon finely sliced

2 cloves garlic thinly sliced

2 sprigs rosemary finely chopped

175 mls red wine

2 x 400 gm tins of cannellini beans, drained

1 packet broccolini

1-2 bunches spinach (not the baby ones)

1 baguette

Bunch of Italian parsley, coarsely chopped

Cooking instructions

1. Dust the beef with flour which you have seasoned with sea salt and cracked pepper
2. Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the beef – you will likely need to do this in two batches. Remove from pan and set aside
3. Add the onions, carrots and celery and cook slowly for 10-12 minutes until soft
4. Add the lardons/bacon, garlic and rosemary and cook for another 5 mins
5. Return the beef to the pan and add the wine – bring to the boil, lower the heat and add the stock to barely cover the meat and bring to the boil and season with salt and pepper
6. Cover with lid and cook on very low heat for approx. 1.5 hours (if using chuck, longer for brisket or cheek) – you can cook in the oven on 160 degrees Celsius if you prefer
7. After this initial cook, add the beans to the pan, mix carefully and continue cooking covered for a further 45 mins
8. Towards the end of the cook, steam or boil the broccolini – 5 mins
9. Just before serving, wilt over moderate heat the spinach (leave leaves whole) in some olive oil – this will only take a couple of minutes. Season with salt and cracked pepper
10. The stew should have thickened to a rich gravy by the end of the cook with the beef very tender
11. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the dish and serve the stew with the broccolini, wilted spinach and a slices of baguette to soak up the gravy at the end!

Serves 4