Beef Casserole with Celery and Dumplings

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This early spring recipe is based on a traditional Exeter beef stew

Ingredients

Serves: 6 Preparation: 10 Cook Time: 200 Total Time: 210min

Preheat the oven to //gas mark Trim the meat and cut into a dozen or so pieces. Place in an oven-to-table casserole dish with the vinegar and warm in the bottom half of the oven.
Meanwhile, gently fry the onion, celery and mushrooms in the butter. Sprinkle on the flour and let it brown all over. Stir in the cider, bring to the boil and pour over the meat. Season lightly. Cover, place it back into the oven and cook until the meat is tender. This can take up to three hours depending on the cut of meat you use.
As the beef cooks, make the dumplings. About minutes before the meat is ready, remove from the oven, place the dumplings on top and return.
Serve the beef and dumplings from the casserole in which they were cooked with a good sprinkling of chopped flat-leafed parsley.
Tom Bissell's wine recommendation: We recently had beef with a splendid Cotes du Rhone, a Cairanne, which is from one of the villages in the Rhone valley. Peppery, fragrant and full bodied, this is an ideal match for a beef casserole, or indeed, a roasted rib of beef with gravy, Yorkshires and all the trimmings. South Africa's Pinotage is also a good bet with beef, made from a grape that shares the characteristics of its parents, the Pinot Noir and the Syrah, from Burgundy and the Rhone respectively.