Slow-cooked Beef with Vanilla

The addition of a vanilla bean to this dish gives it an extra flavor dimension.

Ingredients

• 750g beef stewing steak
• 2 tablespoons each: flour, olive oil
• 1 red onion, peeled and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• ½ cup red wine
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 Heilala Vanilla Bean, split and seeds scraped
• ½ teaspoon each: salt, freshly ground black pepper
• 1 each: red, yellow capsicum, sliced

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Cut the beef into large chunks. Place the flour on a plate, add the beef, and toss to coat the chunks evenly in the flour.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in batches for 3-4 minutes. Place the beef in a casserole dish.
4. Add the onion and garlic to the frying pan and cook for 2 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Add the onion and garlic to the casserole dish along with the celery, red wine, beef stock, vanilla bean and seeds. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Press a piece of baking paper onto the surface of the meat and liquid, and cover the casserole dish with a lid. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.
7. Add the capsicum and cook for a further hour, or until the beef is very tender.

Serve with soft polenta or mashed potatoes and green vegetables.

Serves 4.