Beef hotpot

Beef hotpot
Prepare
less than 30 mins
Cook
1 to 2 hours
Serve
Serves 6–8

James Martin's warming beef hotpot is a wintry dream come true. The beef is meltingly tender in its red wine sauce and it's all topped with crisp potatoes. There will be no leftovers, but if you want to keep some back it does freeze well.

By James Martin

From 2007-16

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Ingredients

Recipe tips
How-to videos

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3.

  2. Season the beef with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat a large casserole until very hot, then add the oil and a small knob of butter. Fry the beef until browned all over, then remove from the pan and set aside. (You may need to do this in batches.)

  3. Add the onions and another knob of butter to the pan and fry for 2–3 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the carrots and cook for a further minute.

  4. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Then gradually add the red wine, stirring until smooth. Add the browned beef back to the pan with the stock, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and bring to the boil. Stir in the fresh thyme. ,

  5. Arrange the potatoes on top. Dot the surface with the remaining butter.

  6. Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for one hour or until the potatoes are crisp and golden brown on top.

  7. Remove the lid and increase the heat to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 for 30 minutes.

  8. Serve the hotpot with buttered boiled greens and the remaining red wine.

Recipe tips

If you can't get hold of baby onions, use the smallest shallots you can find, or cut them into chunks.

Fresh beef stock is best, but a good quality cube also works well.

The best potatoes to use are the more floury varieties that you'd use for mash or wedges. They are often labelled as all rounders or white potatoes.

You don't need to use a fancy red wine in this recipe, but as a fair amount goes in it should be drinkable.