Recipe by Brownriggs Farm Shop, Godshill
Ingredients
Serves 6-8
- 1.5-2kg Brownrigg’s silverside or topside of beef
- 100ml Oil of Wight
- 12 carrots, peeled and tops off if you want to
- 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
- Half a bottle of Adgestone Oaked white wine
- 1 litre rich beef stock
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 large or 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
- A few sprigs of thyme
- 2tsp Briddlesford Farm butter
- 2tsp light brown or light muscovado sugar
- 3tbps Calbourne Mill plain flour
- 2.5-3kg Isle of Wight Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves of Garlic Farm smoked garlic, peeled and chopped
- A few sprigs of rosemary
Method
Heat oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan/gas 3, or use the baking oven in your Aga or slow cooker. Rub the meat with 2 tsp of the oil and plenty of seasoning. Heat a large flameproof casserole dish and brown the meat all over for about 10 mins. Meanwhile, add 4 tsp oil to a frying pan and fry the carrots and celery for 10 mins until turning golden.
Lift the beef onto a plate, splash the wine into the hot casserole and boil for 2 mins. Pour in the stock, return the beef, then tuck in the carrots, celery and bay leaves, trying not to submerge the carrots too much. Cover and cook in the oven for 3 hrs. (I like to turn the beef halfway through cooking.) If using a slow cooker, brown the meat and veg then add everything to the slow cooker.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the onions. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and stir in the onions, thyme and some seasoning. Cover and cook gently for 20 mins until the onions are softened but not coloured. Remove the lid, turn up the heat, add the butter and sugar, then let the onions caramelise to a dark golden brown, stirring often. Remove the thyme sprigs, then set aside.
About 1 hour before the beef is cooked, par boil the potatoes for approx. 10 minutes. After draining sprinkle them with 2tbps flour and shake in the colander, until the edges are coated in flour. Heat 2tbsp of oil with salt and pepper in a large pan in the oven then add the potatoes, seasoning, smoked garlic and rosemary. Turn regularly to ensure they are evenly cooked and crispy.
When the beef is ready, it will be tender and easy to pull apart at the edges. Remove the beef and carrots from the casserole and snip off the strings, let the beef rest. Reheat the onion pan, stir in the flour and cook for 1 min. Whisk the floury onions into the beefy juices in the casserole dish, to make a thick onion gravy. Season to taste.
We like to slice the beef and pop everything on serving plates in the centre of the table and help ourselves for our Sunday feast along with a bottle of Adgestone full bodied red wine, cheers!