Tender Beef in Wine and Mushroom Sauce

Every now and again the day comes when I hear the question 'Could we possibly have some real meat?'. "The real meat" being something else than chicken, which for some reason tends to appear in a great majority of my favourite meals. So, every now and again I back down, buy some pork or beef to later ask myself why I don't do it more often! Beef, after all is actually the king of meats - not only is it tender, soft and flavoursome, but it is also filling and amazingly simple and quick to prepare.

The idea for this meal has been following me for a few days, and finally today I got around to making it. This beef-based dish is great for lunch or dinner, and in my opinion gives plenty of energy to keep warm, thus it's ideal for this time of year. The simplicity of preparation and short cooking time are just a bonus here! :)

I used about 250-300g piece of beef, which I sliced, seasoned with pepper and put thinly sliced garlic on each side of the chops.The thing to remeber is not to put salt on the meat until the end of cooking, otherwise it will get hard. The meat was fried very briefly on a frying pan with melted butter. Then I moved the meat to a pan, along with the melted butter, added mushrooms and stewed for a about 15-20 minutes until mushrooms began to shrink. Then I added a wealthy serving of red wine, salt and pepper, and a dollop of honey. It simmered for a few more minutes before adding cornflour diluted in a dash of water to thicken the sauce a bit. After adding the cornflour mixture, the sauce has to come to boil, then it thickens, and it's ready. I served it with pureed spuds and salad for my husband.

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