Guinness braised beef with cabbage and bacon

Excited for the big 6 Nations game tomorrow, Ireland vs England, and to accompany such an occasion, a Paul O'Connell sized sarny.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 8

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Braised beef

800g beef brisket

1 tbsp olive oil

1 pint / 500ml of Guinness

1 beef stock cube, crumbled

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp brown sauce

3 bay leaves

5 shallots, peeled and halved

Cabbage and bacon

1 tbsp olive oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

100g bacon lardons

400g savoy cabbage, shredded

And the rest

5 tbsp horseradish sauce

8 giant multi-seed baps

Pre-heat the oven to 160ºC.

Season the beef all over and heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Seal the beef on all sides and then transfer to a deep roasting tray.

Pour the Guinness into the frying pan, bring to a simmer and deglaze the pan, ensuring you scrape up any beef stuck to the bottom.

Add the Guinness to the roasting tray along with the beef stock cube, Worcestershire sauce, brown sauce, shallots and bay leaves. Tightly cover the tray with foil and cook for 4 hours.

Once cooked, remove the beef from the oven and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes. Transfer the remaining cooking liquid into a small saucepan and boil rapidly until reduced to a thick sauce (by about three quarters). Season to taste.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the garlic and shallot. Cook for a couple of minutes until softened and add the bacon lardons. Fry for a further 5 minutes.

Now stir in the shredded cabbage and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the cabbage and bacon is cooking, cut open the baps and spread about 2 teaspoons of horseradish sauce on each.

Finally, shred the beef with a couple of forks and divide it between the baps. Drizzle a little of the reduced sauce over the beef and top with the cabbage and bacon.

Pour yourself a pint of Guinness and set yourself in-front of the TV for the game.