Braised Beef

800 g skirt of beef or braising steak

50 g plain flour

8 shallots, peeled

1 clove garlic, chooped

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

200 ml red wine

1 bay leaf

2 star anise

1/2 litre beef stock

1 tbsp tomato puree

4 large mushrooms

200 g carrots

1 kg potatoes

25 g butter

50 ml milk

Preheat oven to 150C/300F

Put flour in shallow dish with salt and pepper. Dredge the meat with the flour

Heat the oil and fry steak until brown on all sides

Remove the meat and put into casserole dish

Add shallots and garlic to the pan and cook for 2 mins. Add sherry vinegar and wine and boil until volume reduced by half, then pour over the meat

Add bay leaf and anise then boiling stock and tomato puree

Braise in the oven 2-3 hours. Make sure stock covers the meat every so often

Put the potatoes on to boil half an hour before the end. Add mushrooms and carrots to the steak at this point

Mash the potatoes once cooked with milk, butter and seasoning. Serve