I discovered this perfect make-ahead recipe some time ago and I can’t get enough of it since. It’s a practical, time-saving, delicious, and nutritious whole food dish.
If you are fed up with lunch in restaurants or at your work place, prepare this dish and take it with you. All your colleagues will be jealous, I guarantee you. Otherwise, eat it for dinner the next day. How nice is it to have a prefect meal waiting for you when you go home hungry after work!
This recipe is low in carbohydrates, moderate-high in fat and moderate in high quality protein. It is made with seasonal and local ingredients, it warms and fills you up in these cold winter days.
It is simple to prepare, all you need is good quality ingredients (4-5 servings):
1 kg fatty beef, veal, lamb or pork, or the combination of them, cut into large chunks; use fatty meat, such as brisket or neck. There should be a bit less than 1/3 visible fat on the meat
2 tbsp lard or tallow
100 g nitrite-free bacon, cut into small cubes or slices
2 small carrots
2 small parsley roots
a small slice of celery root
1 onion (optional)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2-3 dl home-made bone broth or water (prefer broth if you have it)
1 bayleave (optional)
Method:
Heat oven to 180 °C.
Pre-fry the bacon, the meat chunks and the vegetables in the fat first. I find that the dish will taste better this way, but you can also skip this part.
Otherwise put all the ingredients in a large oven safe pot, add broth or water, mix a bit, cover and voilà, your dish is ready to go in the oven for overnight. Reduce the heat after half an hour to 90 °C and cook the dish for 8-10 hours.
As an alternative, you can roast this dish at 150 °C for 3-4 hours.
Half an hour before it is ready, you can fry some mushrooms and add them to the dish if you like.
Serve fresh but you can also keep it in the fridge for a few days and warm up the portion you need.
Bon appétit!