Post 222: (Evil Mik's) Beef Stifado

I have a friend - Mik*, who is an enthusiastic cook and gave me this recipe. I'm not sure where he got it from, but it sure tastes nice. It's a pretty easy recipe to cook, but that shallots can be quite a faff.

Ingredients:
- Stewing beef 1 kilo + 2 tablespoons of plain flour
- tinned tomatoes 2 tins
- Shallots 1 kilo, this sounds like a lot, but by the time they're peeled it seems about right
- Red wine 1/2 bottle
- herbs, in tea spoons 1 x cumin seeds and dried 2 1/2 thyme, 2 1/2 oregano fresh 3 long sprigs (I used the sprigs as I've some fresh rosemary; but I thoguht it might be a bit woody to leave in the dish), 2 bay leaves
- feta cheese, 300gs (but I like it quite feta-y)

Recipe:
- Really easy this. Peel the shallots, leaving whole. Fry and brown a little in olive oil. Place in a large casserole dish
- Coat the beef in flour and flash fry to brown. Add to the casserole
- Dice the feta, fairly small: although it'll break up a bit anyway.
- Add everything else to the casserole and stir
- If you add the feta as the begining, it'll break down and end up going through the sauce; if you prefer the feta lumps to be more identifiable then just add it with 10 minutes cooking to go.
- Cover, cook on a low heat until both the meat and the shallots are really soft, at least 3 hours at 150c; even  longer and lower if you've got the time.
- Stir, cover and cook slowly

Serve with rice.

** POSTSCRIPT**
Or serve with bashed garlicky new potatoes, cooked for the second time: even better: The sauce had gone almost incredibly thick with the feta going through it all.

* - He's 'Evil Mik' on account of his having deliberately broken my rib whilst playing football. He's also able to exert a weird voodoo like hex on barmen to make them serve beer after time.