Beef bourguignon is a traditional slow cook French recipe, it is cooked in red wine with mushrooms and shallots. It is a delicious stew and perfect for low carb eating. I do not put any flour in to thicken the sauce and as I like to serve this with puréed cauliflower I use a spoonful of that to thicken the sauce a bit but its not necessary. I like to use skirt beef for this recipe but you can use chuck steak or any stewing steak.Ingredients

800gms of beef skirt or other steak.

4 rashers of thick cut bacon or lardons.

1 large onion.

1 carrot.

400gms mushrooms.

1 cup of bone broth if you have it or stock if not.

8 large shallots, when you peel them they tend to fall into two or three smaller pieces.

30ml whiskey, optional.

2 scant tablespoons of anchovies, optional but enhances the flavours of the beef, I use dried but tinned are good too.

2 tablespoons butter.

1 bunch of thyme

1/2 bottle of red wine, I am using a blend from one of our local wineries.

2 cloves of garlic.

coconut oil for frying.

Chop the bacon into 1 cm slices and fry in a casserole until crisp, then remove to a plate.

Next chop the beef into large cubes, I like to dry it a bit on paper towels as this makes browning it easier. Fry the beef in more oil in the casserole in small batches until nicely browned and caramelised. It is important not to overcrowd the pan or the beef will boil and we want it browned and a little crispy, this will really enhance the flavour of the finished dish. Remove each batch to the plate with the bacon as you go.

Chop the onion and the carrot as small as you can be bothered, I like these vegetables to be small enough so they almost disappear into the sauce. Add these to the casserole pan and fry until quite soft.

Next add the thyme the anchovies if you are using them and the peeled and chopped garlic. Then return all the beef and bacon to the casserole.Add the 1/2 bottle of red wine and the bone broth or stock, there should be enough liquid to just about cover the meat, add a little water if you need more liquid. Cover with a tight lid and bring to a gentle simmer, you can either cook this in the oven at a low heat or continue on the stove top. I do it on the stove top because I like to cook my onions and mushrooms in the oven whilst the stew is cooking and they need a higher heat. It will take about 4.5 – 5 hours to cook, you want the beef to be falling apart and the sauce to be rich and unctuous.After the stew has been cooking for a couple of hours roast the mushrooms and shallots. I put them in seperate roasting tins because the mushroom will only take about half and hour but I like to really caramelised the shallots so they need about 1.5 hours. Add plenty of coconut oil to the roasting pans and start the roasting of both vegetables at 160C fan bake, take the mushrooms out after half an hour then turn the oven down to 140c fan bake and continue to roast the shallots for another hour. If you are cooking your bourguignon in the oven you can pre roast these veges the day before and keep in the fridge until needed.

They should be browned and a caramelised when done.

After the stew has had about 4.5 hours remove the lid and bring it to a boil for 5 minutes to reduce it a little. If like me you are serving this with puréed cauliflower you can add a heaped spoon to thicken the sauce a bit. I do highly recommend puréed cauliflower to go with this dish. All you do is boil some cauliflower until tender then blitz it in a food processor with a ton of butter until creamy.Then add the whiskey if you are using it and the mushrooms and shallots and continue to cook for 10 minutes more to meld the flavours.Lastly add the butter.I like to serve this with puréed cauliflower as I think I might have mentioned and also some greens, here some snow peas and a sprinkle of parsley. Serves four. 16gms carbs per serve.