What you do
Marinate the beef chunks and bacon in a mixture of the olive oil, brandy and thyme and peppercorns for 2 hours at room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 150c/130cfan/gas 3
To cook the beef – Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery and orange zest. Reduce heat to medium and sweat until the onions and carrots soften, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat up and colour the vegetables slightly. Add the garlic and stir through. Cook for 1 minute, then scrape to one side in the pan and add the beef in batches, lightly colouring all over. Keep scraping to the side to make room to cook the remaining beef.
Deglaze the pan with the marinade and the sun dried tomato paste. Add the olives, anchovy, wine, roasted tomatoes and peppers, plus the bouquet garnis. Bring to a very gentle simmer, cover and braise in the oven until the meat is fall-apart tender, about 3-4 hours. Check from time to time to ensure that the stew is simmering gently. Adjust oven temperature if needed.
This can also be cooked in a covered heavy based pan on your hob, the daube should simmer ultra slowly.
Remove from the oven and take out the chunks of beef with a slotted spoon and place in a warmed serving dish. Mix together the beurre manie and add a third at a time to the pan with the sauce, stirring through until thickened. Pour over the meat and finish with the persillade. Serve with little roasted vegetables and crusty bread, or pasta/rice.
Meat and Marinade
1kg beef shoulder or shin, use a combination of 2-3 cuts and cut into 75g chunks
80g thick smoked bacon, cut into strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon brandy
4 sprigs of thyme
½ teaspoon crushed peppercorns
The Daube
Olive oil for searing meat and vegetables
1 large onion, halved and sliced thickly
1 stick celery, peeled and sliced
2 large carrots, peeled, halved and sliced
Zest of ½ an orange in large strips
2 tablespoons sun dried tomato paste
8 medium roasted tomato halves
2 sweet roasted peppers
1 anchovy, chopped finely (optional)
600ml white wine – French of course
1 bouquet garnis-1 large bay leaf, end of celery stick, a few sprigs of herbs – thyme, parsley stalks – tied up with string
Beurre manié to thicken the sauce
20g soft butter
20g plain flour
Persillade to finish
25g fresh flat leaf parsley leaves
1 fat garlic clove