Wine-Free Provençal Daube

📝 Ingredients

• 600 g braising beef (chuck)
• 2 brown onions (about 300 g)
• 3 carrots (about 300 g)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400 g)
• 1 orange (3 strips of zest + all the juice, about 100 ml)
• 60 g pitted black olives
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp herbes de Provence + 2 bay leaves
• 1 beef stock cube + 400 ml hot water
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 300 g dried pasta (macaroni)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Flameproof casserole dish with lid
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Peeler
• Large saucepan
• Colander

📖 Steps

1. Cut the beef into large 5 cm cubes, pat dry with kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper. Slice the onions, cut the carrots into 1 cm rounds and crush the garlic. Pare 3 wide strips of orange zest with a vegetable peeler, avoiding the bitter white pith, then squeeze the juice.
2. Heat the oil in a casserole dish over a high heat. Brown the meat in 2 batches, 8 min per batch, turning the cubes only once they release on their own: they should form a brown crust. Too many pieces at once will make the meat boil instead of brown. Set aside on a plate.
3. Reduce to a medium heat, add the onions and carrots and fry them for 5 min in the meat juices, stirring. Add the garlic for 1 min, then pour in the balsamic vinegar and scrape the bottom with a wooden spatula to release the caramelised bits, which give the sauce all its flavour.
4. Dissolve the stock cube in the hot water. Return the meat and its juices to the casserole dish, then add the chopped tomatoes, stock, orange juice and zest, herbes de Provence and bay leaves. The liquid should almost cover the meat. Bring to a simmer.
5. Cover and simmer for 2 h 30 min over a very low heat: the surface should barely tremble, never boil, or the meat will toughen. Stir every 30 min and add a little water if the sauce starts to stick. The daube is ready when the meat falls apart with a fork.
6. 20 min before the end, add the olives. If the sauce is too runny, remove the lid and let it reduce until it coats the spoon. Remove the bay leaves and zest, taste and adjust the salt carefully: the olives are already salty.
7. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the macaroni for the time stated on the packet, stirring during the first minute so they don't stick. Drain.
8. Toss the macaroni with 2 ladles of sauce to coat them well, then serve in shallow bowls with the pieces of meat and the rest of the sauce on top. Like all stews, daube is even better reheated the next day.