Sunday, 8th December 2013
Turn on the slow cooker with a little wine in it, to warm up. Season a slice of Beef Shin or Leg generously and then brown it for several minutes on both sides in a hot pan. Move it to the slow cooker, and add onion to the pan and brown it for a few minutes. Add a generous amount of red wine and deglaze the pan and then some stock, bay leaves and rosemary. Reduce by about a third and pour it all into to the slow cooker. Add some whole, unpeeled cloves of garlic. Cook on medium for several hours. Add some quartered mushrooms and whole button onions and cook for another hour.
On this occasion, I decided to serve the gravy as it was, but I should have removed some of it from the pot and thickened it.
I served this with mash, which was OK, and leeks, which I burnt and which were horrible. A wide pasta would probably have been better. Still the beef, mushrooms and onions were very good. The whole cloves of garlic do not overpower the dish when cooked this way, but are still pretty garlicky when you squeeze them out of their skins to eat.
