Derailed Stew on the Tracks

Ingredients

• 800 g beef stew meat, cubed
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 250 ml red wine
• 250 ml beef stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 8 pickles, halved lengthwise
• 12 pearl onions
• 1 large French sausage (e.g. Morteau or smoked sausage)
• 1 baguette
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat olive oil and butter in a Dutch oven. Brown the beef on all sides.
2. Add onions and garlic, sauté for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in tomato paste and cook briefly.
4. Deglaze with red wine, add stock, bay leaves, mustard, salt and pepper.
5. Let the meat simmer gently for 2 hours with the lid slightly ajar.
6. Slice the sausage lengthwise and brown it in a skillet.
7. Cut the baguette into long diagonal slices and toast briefly in the oven.
8. Arrange the baguette slices in two parallel rows on the plate as tracks.
9. Place the halved pickles and pearl onions between the tracks as sleepers and bolts.
10. Spoon the stew over the tracks, leaving space for the sausage.
11. Lay the browned sausage diagonally across the tracks as the derailed rail.

Serving notes

• Serve with extra pickles for a tangy note.
• Sprinkle extra wholegrain mustard on the stew for more punch.
• Keep the tracks straight for best visual effect.