Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

I was inspired to have a go at this after watching the film Julie & Julia, based on a blog of one woman's attempts to make all 500+ recipes in Julia Child's seminal cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in the space of one year. It's a bit of a faff (I've rated it as a 3 because of faffdom), but boy, does it taste nice :)

• 175g bacon steak with rind
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5kg stewing beef
• 1 sliced carrot
• 1 sliced onion
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground pepper
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 600ml full bodied wine
• 1 litre beef bouillon or stock
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• ½ tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 18 - 24 small onions
• 450g fresh mushrooms, quartered
• Few parsley sprigs

Preheat oven to 230 degrees C.

1. Remove rind from bacon, cut bacon into lardons. Simmer rind and bacon for 10 mins in boiling water, then drain and dry.
2. In the casserole dish, saute the bacon in the oil to brown lightly (2 - 3 mins) and then remove from the casserole to a side plate.
3. Dry the stewing beef in paper towels (it won't brown if damp) and turn the heat up on the oil in the casserole until almost smoking.
4. Saute the beef, a few pieces at a time until browned on all sides, then add to the bacon plate.
5. In the same oil, brown the sliced veg.
6. If there's any oil left over, pour it away and then return the beef, bacon and veg to the casserole. Toss with the salt and pepper and then toss with the flour.
7. Put in the middle of the oven for 4 minutes, toss the meat and then return to the oven for a further 4 minutes. This will brown the flour.
8. Remove the casserole and turn the oven down to 170 degrees C.
9. Stir in the wine and enough bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato puree, garlic, herbs and bacon rind.
10. Bring this to a simmer on the hob before covering and putting back in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
11. While the meat is cooking, saute the mushrooms and set aside and brown braise the onions in stock/bouillon (heat some oil and butter in a pan and brown the onions as evenly as possible. then cover in stock, add parsley and bay and simmer until the liquid has gone).
12. At this point, I diverged from Julia's recipe as when I took the casserole from the oven, there was just the right amount of liquid left. However, she suggests that if there is too much left over you should remove the meat and veg and reduce the sauce. If there isn't enough sauce, stir in a little more stock).
13. Add the mushrooms and onions and give everything a good stir round. Garnish with parsley and serve up with lovely green tenderstem broccoli and new potatoes.