This hearty casserole is a brilliant way to harness the summer mushroom bonanza. It combines heady red meats with the powerful flavours of dried porcini, but no doubt you could play with robust vegetables (e.g. pumpkin, parsnip or or beetroot) – or you could use beans.
500g Casserole beef, lamb, venison or horse
150g Fresh mushrooms (preferably wild)
50g Dried porcini
1 Onion
2 Cloves garlic
2 tbspn Dijon mustard
2 tbspn Plain flour
50g Butter
2 tbspn Olive oil
150ml Red wine
125ml Passata (or large slug of tomato puree)
2 Sprigs rosemary
2 Fresh bay leaves
Salt
Pepper
Soak the porcini in boiling water, while chopping the onion and dicing the meat. Melt the butter in the oil in a frying pan and seal the meat for a few minutes. Remove this and roll it in the flour in a casserole dish. Tip the porcini (and most importantly the soaking liquid) into the casserole while softening the onion and garlic in the frying pan before adding this to the meat. Rinse out the frying pan with the wine and add it and all the other ingredients except the mushrooms to the casserole. Cook very slowly on a low heat for three or four hours. Half an hour before serving, stir the mushrooms into the casserole. Serve with rice, mashed potato or – as in this case – slices of grilled polenta.