Beef bourguignon

Last night I could not be bothered cooking, I had myself a lazy night.

I sometimes skip making dinner, but as I plan each meal in advance it means that I have one dinner's worth of ingredients that still need to be used up. My solution is to make it the following day for lunch. It worked out perfectly as we have dinner plans tonight, which normally means we are absolutely starving by the time our reservation comes. However, I am hoping that by having a big lunch and perhaps a smoothie in between, we will be in that perfect place of hunger without actually being in pain.

I heavily adapted this recipe as I do not have a casserole dish so I was unable to move it to and from the oven. Here is what I did (Large single serve, or medium serve for 2 if there's a side dish):

Beef bourguignon from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion

1tbs olive oil
100g streaky bacon cut into 1cm cubes
5 shallots
700g blade steak, 5cm cubes
ground black pepper
2tbs plain flour
1tbs Brandy
1 cup red wine
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
2 stalks parsley
small piece of blood orange peel
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup beef stock
5 large flat mushrooms sliced thickly
25g softened butter

In non-stick fry pan heat oil and brown bacon gently. Remove with slotted spoon and brown shallots then set aside with bacon.
Season beef with pepper and brown in pan. Scatter over 1tbs flour on high heat, then add 1tbs Brandy. Keep heat on high and add wine, and reduce a little. Make sure to stir up any brown bits.
Add herbs and orange peel. Add garlic, bacon and onions. Add beef stock, cover with baking paper snugly and cover with lid. Cook for 20mins and add mushrooms, recover and cook for a further 10mins.
Ladle 1/2cup of juices into a small bowl. Cream softened butter with 1tbs flour and add to juices, mixing with a fork until combined. Pour this into beef and stir until combined. Bring casserole to a boil to thicken slightly.

ease: 4/5.
prep time: 25mins.
cooking time: 30mins.
total: 55 hour.

taste: 4/5. I cooked it for 35mins rather than 30 and by that stage the liquid had almost completely evaporated so I would recommend reducing it by 5mins or just check on it.
Ryan liked this, and thought all the flavours went well. He thought the red wine was the strongest flavour. I removed the herbs before serving.

would I make it again: Yes - I will make it the same way but reduce the cooking time by 5-10mins.