The long cooking gives this dish a really good, deep flavour and beautifully textured, melt-in-the-mouth beef.
1.8kg/4lb boned and rolled brisket of beef
85g/3oz pancetta, chopped
2 garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme, plus a few whole sprigs
3 tbsp olive oil
400g/14oz baby onions or shallots
450g/1lb young carrots
2–3 celery sticks, finely chopped
75cl bottle fruity red wine
2–3 bay leaves
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp light muscovado sugar
Takes 3¼ hours • Serves 6-8
1 Wipe the meat dry. Season. Mix together half the pancetta, the garlic, chopped thyme and ½ teaspoon salt. Make deep incisions in the beef and push in the mixture with a spoon handle.
2 Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole dish and brown the beef all over. Remove and set aside. Add the onions, brown, then remove. Reduce the heat and cook the remaining pancetta with half of the carrots and the celery for 6 minutes.
3 Return the beef to the pan with the wine, thyme sprigs, bay, purée and sugar. Bring to a simmer, cover and roast in the oven for 1¾ hours, turning once.
4 Remove from the oven and add the onions and remaining carrots, finely chopped. Cover and cook for 50 minutes.
5 Put the vegetables and meat on a serving dish, cover loosely with foil and leave for 10 minutes. Boil the juices in the dish to thicken and season to serve.
Per serving 751 kcals, protein 59g, carbs 9g, fat 44g, sat fat 17g, fibre 3g, sugar 1g, salt 0.87g