Crusty Beef Casserole

After a few crisp, sunny, winter days the rain is back in Wellington.
We’re getting down into single digits again at night, which means time for some nice comfort food.

This recipe comes from one of my mother’s cookbooks, which I think was just called ‘Meat’. The name of the recipe is just as simple – Crusty Beef Casserole.

The ingredients are pretty simple, but the result is fantastic. And you can’t go wrong with gravy-dipped garlic bread.

Ingredients

850g – 1kg beef blade steak or gravy beef
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce*
1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1/2 cup water

Topping

25g soft butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon dijon or wholegrain mustard
chopped chives or parsley
half a baguette, sliced 3cm thick

Cut the steak into chunks about 6x4cm. Place in a casserole dish.

In a bowl mix all the other ingredients (except the topping ingredients!) and pour over the beef.

Cover and bake at 160C for two hours.

Combine topping ingredients and spread on one side of each slice of bread. You’ll want enough slices to cover the top of the casserole dish.

Arrange the bread slices side by side with the buttered side up on top of the meat. Push the slices down a bit so they soak up the juices.

Return the casserole to the oven uncovered, and bake at 200C for 10 minutes, or until the topping is crisp and golden.

Serve with veges – I’ve got boredgoldfish’s brussels sprouts** in there, which are really good – honest!

* Can anybody spell worcestershire without a spellcheck? I have it written several different ways in my recipe books as I got older and learned I needed MORE letters, not less…

** Google says they’re Brussels Sprouts. And here I’ve been calling them Brussel Sprouts all my life, like some guy name Brussel discovered them.