Slow cooked Cajun beef

This is so full of flavour and really benefits from a long marinade and a long slow cooking. Use any kind of beef which is good cooked slowly... chuck, shin, skirt etc.

This makes enough for up to 4 people.

- marinade 500g of your chosen cut of beef cut into chunks in a dry marinade made up of 1 tbl sp smoked paprika, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 or 2 chopped chillies, 1 tea sp cayenne, 1/2 tea sp ground black pepper, 1/2 tea sp salt, leaves from a few sprigs of thyme and leaveto marinade for a few hours. If you have any 'cajun spice' mix then add 1/2 tea sp of that too but dont worry if not.


- when ready to cook, brown meat in a casserole in some olive oil and set aside

- brown a chopped onion in the same pan

- add the meat back into the pan and add 500ml beef stock and a couple of bay leaves

- cook on a low heat on the hob or in the oven for a couple of hours, add a chopped green or red pepper 20 mins before the end. Sometimes we add mushrooms too. Keep an eye on it and add some extra stock if the liquid evaporates too quickly.

I'm not sure if its particularly authentic but a mixture or parsley and coriander on top is nice before you serve it.
We serve it with rice and an extra side of tinned sweetcorn roughly blitzed in a processor with a chilli, some basil, seasoning and a splash of double cream, then heated through on the hob.