Emile's Beef Bourguignon

We are incredibly grateful to be soon-to-be parents and hosted a baby shower on Saturday night to celebrate the approaching change of season amongst cherished friends. We decided to re-create one of our all-time favourite winter experiences epitomised by the restaurant Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg in Roseville - a cosy dinner with special friends over a big wooden dining table, freshly cut flowers, candlelight, beef bourguignon with pappardelle and decadent wintery desserts. The only thing missing was the accompanied glass of Sangiovese but being pregnant, this sadly was not a viable option. We had roughly 20 people over for this seated dinner and this dish is now a firmly established entertaining go-to for a few reasons: You can entirely prepare, clean up and and cook this meal prior to anybody arriving which removes any stress over whether dinner will work out or taste good because that is all determined before anyone walks through the door. You can upscale this as needed depending on number of guests and the size of your oven. The aroma literally fills the house and adds to the sensory experience of the evening. It is quite easy to adapt for gluten-free guests by offering polenta alongside pasta. And lastly, all you need to do when people arrive is boil pasta, blanch broccolini and pop sourdough in the oven for 5-10minutes for a full-scale, decadent yet simple feast.

Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine (full-bodied e.g shiraz)
1kg braising beef (rump, shank etc), fat removed and cut into 3cm pieces.
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
200g pancetta, diced
4 juniper berries
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
100mL olive oil
2 tbsp flour
200g button mushrooms, cut into quarters
salt and pepper

Method:
The day before:
1. Trim the fat from the meat and cut into 3cm pieces (or ask your butcher to do)
2. Place meat, onion, carrot, pancetta and juniper berries into a large bowl and pour over with bottle of red wine. Cover with glad wrap and place in fridge to marinate for approximately 12 hours.
Cooking:
1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Drain and dry the meat (do not discard marinade!)
3. Heat the oil in a stewpot and brown the pieces of meat, add salt and pepper.
4. Add the solid ingredients from the marinade to the stewpot and reduce to a medium heat.
5. Add garlic, bay leaf, thyme and sprinkle over the flour. Mix well.
6. Pour over the marinade liquid and bring to a simmer.
7. Cover and cook in a preheated oven for approximately 2 hours at 200ºC.
8. Ten minutes before meat is ready, lightly pan fry mushrooms and add to dish when ready to serve.
9. Serve hot with fresh tagliatelle.

Recommended sides: Blanched broccolini with toasted flaked almonds and a good quality baguette, reheated briefly in the oven.

It's recommended to check on this once or twice through the cook to make sure sauce is reducing properly and not drying out too much.

Serves 4

**Recipe from Emile Henry France Recettes pg 15**