Beef, red wine and chestnut casserole

Ingredients
1.3kg brisket beef
3tbsp plain flour
3tbsp olive oil
120g pack Diced Pancetta
16 shallots, quartered
2tbsp tomato purée
400ml red wine
400ml hot beef stock
1 bay leaf
Leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
250g chestnut mushrooms, halved
240g can peeled chestnuts
Mashed potato and petits pois, to serve

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 150C/ 130C Fan /Gas 2. Cut the beef into 4cm cubes. Toss in the flour and set aside.

2 Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a flameproof dish and fry the pancetta until it starts to crisp. Remove from the dish, leaving the oil, and put aside. Add the shallots to the casserole and cook until soft, then set aside.

3 Add the rest of the oil to the casserole dish and stir-fry the beef in batches until it is brown on all sides, adding each browned batch to the pancetta. 4 Put the tomato purée and wine in the dish and simmer, uncovered, for

4 minutes. Add the pancetta, beef, stock, bay leaf and thyme. Season then heat until simmering. Cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours. Add the shallots, chestnuts and mushrooms and cook for another 30 minutes. Serve with mash and petits pois.