Pressure cooker beef casserole

Ingreadient

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100g smoked bacon lardons or pancetta
• 750g stewing beef, diced
• 2 tsp plain flour
• ½ tsp mustard powder
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 carrots, cut on the diagonal
• 2 celery sticks, cut into chunks
• 150ml red wine or beer
• 1 garlic bulb
• 1 bouquet garni (2 bay leaves, 1 thyme sprig and 1 rosemary sprig, tied with kitchen string
• 150ml good beef stock or jus
• Handful parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp softened butter

Instruction

1. Heat the olive oil in the pressure cooker. Add the bacon/pancetta and fry until crisp, then set aside. Toss the beef in the flour and mustard powder and season well with salt and pepper. Sear over a high heat in the pressure cooker pan until brown all over. Set aside.
2. Put the onion, carrots and celery in the pressure cooker and fry for a few minutes until just starting to take on some colour. Pour in the red wine or beer, then stir, making sure you deglaze the base of the cooker properly (see Know how) – this is especially important if you’re using an electric pressure cooker as anything stuck to the base can set off the burn alarm.
3. Add the garlic, bouquet garni and beef stock or jus. Return the beef to the cooker. Season again, then close the lid and bring up to high pressure. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat (or turn off) and let it drop pressure naturally. Remove the garlic cloves and squeeze out the flesh from their skins into the cooker, then add the bacon lardons and stir over a low heat for a couple of minutes. Serve with a sprinkling of parsley. If you want to thicken the casserole, make a little beurre manié – mash the flour with the butter to form a paste, then stir a little at a time into the casserole over a low heat until it thickens.