I grew up Greece with a mother as obsessed with cooking and food as I am now. She was (and is) a fantastic home cook able to whip up an impressive dinner out of whatever was seasonally available. But rather than stick to the many wonderful traditional Greek recipes, she had a library full of cookbooks from all over the world and would take inspiration from French, American and English recipes. This Provençal Beef Daube was a regular feature during the Autumn months, a wonderfully warming stew full of flavour.
I have carried on the tradition of cooking food from all over the world, mixing up flavours and stealing ideas from cookbooks in magpie like fashion. This stew has not changed much since my childhood however, except I add whatever vegetables I have to hand. The one essential in this recipe is prunes – they add a real depth of flavour and sweetness to the dish. I also threw in chestnuts, parsnips and a little apple and serve it with celeriac mash. Celeriac is a bit of an ugly beast, but it makes a velvety mash that’s got a lot more character, and fewer calories, than potatoes.
I guarantee this is a dish you will fall in love with and make again and again. Like most stews, all the hard work is done by your oven while you sit back with a glass of red wine and enjoy the wonderful fragrance of the stew… I am positive this can be made in a slow cooker as well – will make sure to update the recipe once I test it out in mine.
Provençal Beef Daube
- Preheat the oven to 160C (320F).
- Put the flour on a large plate and season liberally with salt and pepper. Toss the beef cubes in the flour until they are lightly coated.
- Add a good splash of oil in a large casserole dish and brown the beef cubes over medium high heat. Don’t crowd the beef in the pan as it will steam rather than brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Add a splash of stock to the pan and scrape any sticky flour/beef bits with a wooden spoon.
- Add the chopped shallots, and a splash more oil if needed, and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the prunes, carrots, parsnips, garlic, apple, chestnuts and bay leaves and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, adding stock if the pan is dry.
- Stir in the tomato paste, vinegar and orange peel. Add the beef and pour in the stock and wine.
- Bring to the boil, cover the casserole and put in the oven for 1 1/2 –2 hours.
- Remove from the oven, check the seasoning and remove the bay leaves.
- While the stew is cooking, make the mash. Put the celeriac, parsnip and garlic in a pot, and pour in enough water to cover the vegetables.
- Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through.
- Drain and put the vegetables in a Vitamix or food processor together with the butter and a good glug of double cream. Blitz until smooth, adding a little more cream if the mash is too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Divide the mash between your plates and top with the stew. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
Such a beautiful stew Lucy! We are currently experiencing storms in New England that have brought a cold front in. I think a warm, rustic and homey stew like this is in order.
It's still not too bad over here but expect a sudden change in the weather soon! Bet New England is gorgeous when the leaves start to turn!
this sounds wonderful. i love using root veg as mash too
So yummy. And it makes the house smell incredible!
Absolutely perfect Autumnal comfort food. I'll skip on the Celeriac mash though. Try as I might its just not my kinda veg!
Really? I love celeriac. Especially love it doesn't turn to glue if you blitz it in the Vitamix – unlike potato
loving all our scummy Autumn Warmer recipes, this is so perfect and that mash looks adorably creamy. I could swim in this. Is that wrong?
Swim away Dom – who am I to judge. It is unbelievably delicious. Tonight's dinner in fact : )
Your styling is beautiful, and I rather fancy some of those lovely plates… I always forget that celeriac exists, I do like it though and really should use it more often!
The big plates come from Rowen and Wren – an amazing online homeware store. I want to buy half the shop!
I love prunes in savoury dishes, and this looks rib-stickingly terrific. A most perfect #AutumnWarmer recipe. 🙂
Thanks Kellie! This currently occupying the number one spot in my top ten comfort food recipes.
I love prunes in this gorgeous stew, Lucy! I've never used them myself but there are some Russian stews out there that call for prunes as well and that always intrigued me. I need to make this really soon. Absolutely stunning photos as usual. Pinning.
You will love this I am sure. Such a wonderful flavour – can't get enough of it.
I've just shown this post to my husband, who is currently drooling over the perfect pictures and prose!
Thanks Kate… it was popular with my husband as well. Not everything I make is (he is not a cake lover!)
This looks so good! I've just found you via cosmo blog awards and am absolutely loving the blog. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Natalia! And for your kind words… Comments like yours make my day : )
This looks so beautifully comforting. Its not even vaguely Autumnal weather here yet, but I think I'm going to give this a try at the weekend anyway. We can crack open a bottle of red wine, turn up the air con and pretend that weather that calls for blankets, stew and cosiness!
Jennie x
It's getting to that time of year where I crave meals like this! Meat in a thick gravy with lots of buttery mashed potato. My slow cooker will be in constant use over the next few months and I shall add this to the list. Great photographs.
We visit the camargue quite often in the south of France and they serve stews very similar to this made from bull meat. This version looks amazing.
This was fabulous. I left out the cooked chestnuts because they were $25/lb and I didn't feel like roasting them myself. I also left the lid off the last 30 minutes to allow the stew to thicken a bit. We'll definitely make this again. Thanks!
I am wondering of there is anything I can substitute celeriac for. I really think it will be herd for me to find in Utah. Hopefully I can find it, this dish looks great!
I am wondering of there is anything I can substitute celeriac for. I really think it will be herd for me to find in Utah. Hopefully I can find it, this dish looks great!
Hi and sorry for delayed reply! You can use just potato mash or mix potatoes and parsnips to give the mash a bit more of an edge. Hope this helps