Slow Cooked Beef with Tomato Sauce
Introduction
This is how to cook two meals in one, but you can eat it all at the same time if you want.
This is one version of a basic Italian dish with many variations. Feel free to invent your own.
Ingredients
- 500g piece of topside or cross-cut blade steak
- 1-2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
- 2 tbsps finely chopped (flat leaf) parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
- 1-2 large onions finely diced
- a little chilli paste
- 1 tsp (brown) sugar
1/2 cup red wine
- 2 cans of tomatoes. Make sure you get the Italian ones, the Thai ones are awful, IMO.
Directions
Preheat oven to 150oC
Pat the meat dry with a paper towel and then put the slices of garlic and parsley into several deep knife cuts in the meat.
Season the meat with salt and freshly grated black pepper and put into a heavy pan with pre-heated with the olive oil and brown thoroughly on all sides. Remove the meat and set it aside.
Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool. Then put in the onions and the chilli and saute over a low heat saute until tender and transparent.
Add the wine, sugar and tomatoes and cook then together for about five minutes.
Put the meat in an ovenproof casserole and pour the contents of the fry pan over the top, and allow to cook for about two hours. Keep an eye on the contents and if they begin to dry out add more water.
You now have two meals, if you wish.
You can remove the meat and serve it as a cold or warm "roast" with veges and spuds or whatever you like.
You also have a wonderful spaghetti sauce. You may need to reduce it in a pan so that it gets thick enough to coat the pasta. It's a wonderful sauce!
Variations
Source: adapted from Lois Daish, NZ Listener Feb 19-25 2005 p60.