Carbonnade

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 6 people, you will need:

• 1 1 kg beef
• 2 2 onions
• 3 2 carrots
• 4 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 2 tablespoons flour
• 6 1 litre beer
• 7 salt
• 8 pepper
• Total weight: 2,735 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
35 min.	2 hours 15 min.	2 hours 45 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Cut 1 kg beef into large cubes.
2	Prepare and chop 2 onions.
3	Prepare and chop 2 carrots.
4	Pour 5 tablespoons olive oil into a large heavy-based pan on high heat. When hot, add the pieces of meat and fry until browned on each side (do not salt, as this will bring out the juices, which will stop them browning). When browned, remove the meat from the pan and transfer to a plate to wait.
5	Use the same pan, which should now contain just a little fat, and fry the chopped onions with salt and pepper for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring from time to time.
6	Return the cubed meat to the pan and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons flour.
7	Add the diced carrots.
8	Add 1 litre beer, then salt and pepper.
9	Turn the heat down to minimum and leave to simmer for about 2 hours...
10	...until the beer has reduced to make a thick and tasty sauce. At the same time the meat will have become very well cooked tender.

Remarks

For the beer, I advise you to use a dark beer which will give stronger flavour.
In the so-called "Flemish" carbonnade, a little brown sugar or a slice of gingerbread spread with mustard is added to the dish. But, I don't feel that either is necessary.
For more flavour, you can add a beef stock cube.
Carbonnade is one of those dishes, like boeuf bourguignon for example, which is even better when it is reheated.

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