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Casseroles 
Beef Casseroles

Lynn's Shin Of Beef Bacon Casserole

6 x Rashers smoked streaky bacon, rind removed
5 tbl Olive oil
2 lrg Spanish onions, finely chopped
1 tbl Brown sugar
1 lb Small shallots, peeled and left whole
4 lb Shin of beef, (untrimmed weight)
3 tbl Plain flour
    Sea salt and ground white pepper
2 oz Small button mushrooms, washed and halved
2 x Garlic cloves, crushed
1 bot robust red wine e.g. Rioja
1 x Bouquet garni, (bay, rosemary, thyme, etc)
    Zest and juice of 1 small orange
1/2 pt Beef stock
    Freshly ground black pepper
    Freshly chopped parsley to serve

 Method :
Trim the large edge of bacon fat off the rashers. Chop this into small dice and fry slowly over a low heat in 2 tablespoons of the oil until the fat releases its juices and is rendered down. Then add the onions, raise the heat to medium and continue to cook for about 5 minutes, adding the sugar, until the onions are browned. Don't worry about overdoing the onions as a small amount of slightly 'burnt' edges on them lends itself quite well to this particular dish. Remove the onions and reserve.
Now slice the bacon into narrow strips and pan fry until well done.
Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve with the onions. Add the remaining oil to the pan and brown the whole shallots over a high heat until they are coloured dark brown, but are not cooked through.
Drain, remove and reserve.
Next, trim the beef, removing any sinewy membranes, and cut into large steak-size pieces. Lightly coat the beef pieces with lightly seasoned flour, shaking off any excess. Changing the heat to a high flame, brown a couple of pieces of beef at a time.
Cook the mushrooms briefly with the garlic, and reserve. Now deglaze any residues left in the pan with a couple of dashes of the red wine.
Fill a casserole with layers of onion, bacon, meat, mushrooms, the remainder of the wine, the bouquet garni, orange juice, zest and the stock. Put a lid (or foil) over the top and cook in a medium-hot preheated oven at 180C/350F/gas 4 for about an hour, and then arrange the reserved shallots over the top. Cook for a further 1 -1 1/2 hours, until the meat is soft, but not falling apart.
Drain the juices of (discarding the bouquet garni) and reduce in a saucepan at a rolling boil by about half to two-thirds their original volume, until the reduction has a dense consistency. Adjust the seasoning if necessary, adding freshly ground black pepper, and return the juices to the casserole. This dish is finished off with a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley..