French Onion Beef Stew

The ultimate comfort stew - a delicious combination of French onion soup and a heart beef shin stew. What more could you possibly want?

30 minutes prep

3.5 hours cook

Serves 4-6

Hugh Woodward

Ingredients

1 kg beef shin (in large chunks)

1 tbsp flaked sea salt

2 tbsp sunflower oil

6 large thinly sliced brown onions

60g unsalted butter

100ml white wine

2 carrots

2 celery

800ml beef stock

1 tsp black pepper

a small bunch thyme

2 leaves bay

garlic baguette 1

200g gruyere

to sprinkle fresh thyme leaves

It's basically a stew with loads of caramelised onions in a rich broth and melt in your mouth beef shin. We've obviously topped ours with loads of cheesy garlic breads, because why wouldn't you?

Method

Preheat in the oven to 150°C. Season the beef shin with salt and heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed casserole with a lid. Fry on a medium high heat until browned all over.

Remove the meat from the heat and set aside while you gently fry the onions, stirring frequently and splashing the pan with water to avoid any burnt spots. Cook them until they are a soft caramel brown, then add the butter and deglaze with the white wine and add the beef shin back in along with the carrots and celery, beef stock, aromatics and black pepper.

Pop the lid on and carefully place it in the oven for around 3 hours or until the beef is very tender and the liquid has reduced. Remove the carrots and celery along with the thyme and bay. Gently fork the beef apart into bite size chunks.

Slice the garlic loaf and place on top of the stew then cover with the cheese and grill in the oven. Scatter with thyme and eat.