Boeuf en daube (sort of)

It's trumpet blowing time. I made a highly inauthentic daube on Sunday and though I say it myself, it was delicious. Since I made it up as I went along I'm going to record it here for my benefit as much as anyone else's. So what you do is :-

Chop 2 largish onions into fine pieces and crush and chop 3 cloves of garlic (peeled). Slice 4 rashers of bacon and put all of this into a stockpot on a reasonably high heat on the hob with some olive oil. Put a third of a bottle of wine in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer, set it alight and burn off the alcohol. Add vegetable stock and my secret weapon, Geo Watkin's Mushroom ketchup to taste. Dice one bushell of carrots and 6 tomatoes. Once the onion has started to brown add 2lbs of stewing steak to the pot and brown that. I cover the steak in a dusting of plain flour, salt and pepper before it goes into the pot. Add the carrots and tomatoes to the pot together with a couple of bay leaves and a couple of tablespoons of chopped rosemary. Mix it all together and pour over the liquid till it almost covers the solids. put a piece of foil over the mixture so it is sealed inside the pot well and then put the lid on the stockpot. Put it in the oven at 170 degrees Celsius for an hour or so. Serve with spuds or rice. It's even better on the second or third day.

Well, Elizabeth David, may be spinning in her grave but I was quite pleased with myself. And if you live in South East London I recommend William Rose butchers on Lordship Lane and Pretty Traditional, the greengrocers on North Cross Street as being fantastic places to do your weekly food shop.