Beef Brisket With Garlic and Herb Gravy

Beef Brisket With Rich Garlic and Herb Gravy

Regular visitors to this blog will know that I am a big fan of "peasant food". That often means using the cheaper cuts of meat and slow roasting it for superb flavours. This is one of the best.

Ingredients:

1kg Beef Brisket, Tied and Rolled

Handful of Thyme

3 Garlic Cloves Finely Chopped

1 Sweet White Onion finely chopped

100ml Red Wine

1 Pint of Rich, Beef Stock

22g Unsalted Butter cut into thin slices

2 Table Spoons of Corn Flour

The Cooking:

Rinse your brisket under a tap and lay in the centre of your roasting tin, Season with freshly ground salt and black pepper, sprinkle with the chopped garlic and your sprigs of thyme and dot with the slices of butter. Cover tightly with foil to make as air tight a parcel as possible, and place into an oven, pre-heated to 150 degrees C. Roast for 5 hours, basting it in its own juices every 45 minutes to an hour.

For the final 45 minutes of roasting, turn the oven up to 200 degrees C. First, remove half the fat and juices from the roasting tin to roast your potatoes and parsnips in. Add your chopped onion and glass of red wine to the meat and remaining juices. Give it a stir and place back in the hot oven.

Take the meat out to rest for 20 minutes while you make possibly the nicest gravy you will ever encounter.

Strain the juices from the roasting tin, leaving behind all the bits the meat has been roasted in. Stir in 2 table spoons of corn flour over a gentle heat to make a roux. Then little by little add your pint of stock and whisk until it is all blended and has formed a smooth sauce. Keep it simmering until it virtually turns black. 

Really simple, beautifully tender and it tastes gorgeous!