Mechado Beef Stew

• 1kg beef chuck steak
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of ½ lemon
• ¼ cup dark soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 5 spring onions, roughly chopped
• 2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 long red chilli, roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ bunch thyme, roughly chopped
• 2 potatoes, large dice
• 1 ½ cups white wine
• 1 cup tomato passata
• 800ml beef stock
• 1 red capsicum, large dice
• 1 yellow capsicum, large dice
• 1 green capsicum, large dice
• Flat leaf parsley, to garnish
• Salt and pepper

This recipe is created in partnership with Good Chef Bad Chef by Chef Adrian Richardson.

Cut the beef into a large dice and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat a large frypan over high heat, then add in the beef and half the extra virgin olive oil. Stir to coat then fry for 3-5 minutes on each side until browned. Cook the beef in batches if the pan isn’t big enough.

In a large stewpot, add the remaining olive oil with the garlic, onion, spring onions, celery, carrots, chilli, bay leaves and time. Season with salt and pepper and stir to coat in the oil. Sweat off 5-7 minutes until softened.

Once the meat is browned all over, transfer it and any cooking juices to the stewpot along with the potatoes. Pour in the white wine, tomato passata and beef stock, and stir everything together. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour 20 minutes until beef is tender and potatoes are cooked, before adding the capsicums and cooking for a further 10 minutes.

Garnish with chopped parsley to serve.