Have you seen the film Julie and Julia? If you have you’ll know what an amazing chef Julia Child was but you’ll also know how much she loved to cook with heaps of golden, delicious butter.

This recipe takes most of Julia’s wonderful ingredients but makes it in a much healthier, low fat way.

I’m sorry Julia, I expect you’d been turning in your grave to read this but I don’t have your elegant stature to carry off any extra pounds but I love your flavours and I hope this goes some way to recreate them.

Low calorie cooking spray
180g lean bacon, roughly chopped
600g lean beef braising steak cut into 3cm chunks
2 large carrots sliced into 2cm rounds
1 large white onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed (divide in half; you’ll see why as you read through)
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp plain flour
8 shallots
250ml red wine like Merlot or Pinot Noir
500ml beef stock
11/2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped (divided)
2 bay leaves
300g mushrooms, quartered if large

Preheat oven to 175°C

Spray a large pan with cooking spray and sauté the bacon over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, until crisp and browned. Transfer to a large dish, lined with kitchen paper (to absorb any excess fat) and set aside. Pat dry beef with paper towel; spray the pan again and sear in batches until browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the dish with the bacon (but take out the kitchen paper first).

In the same pan, sauté the carrots and diced onions until softened, (about 3 minutes), then add 2 cloves minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add a few splashes of water if it starts to dry out, this will also release all the lovely gooey bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the bacon and beef back into the pot; season with 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper. Sprinkle with flour, toss well and cook for 4-5 minutes to brown.

Add the tomato purée and stir through then add the shallots *(see tip), wine and enough stock so that the meat is barely covered. Then add the herbs. Bring to a simmer on the stove.

Cover, transfer to lower part of the oven and simmer for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat is fall apart tender (adjust the heat so that the liquid simmers very slowly).

5 minutes before the end of cooking time, prepare your mushrooms: Spray a pan with cooking oil and heat, add the remaining 2 cloves of garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds), then add in the mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes, continually turning to brown on all sides. Set aside.

Now we’re going to drain off the sauce so put a large pot in the sink with a colander in it and carefully pour the whole contents into the colander.

Return the beef to the pan and add the mushrooms and put the lid on to keep warm.

Now put the pan with the sauce over a medium heat and simmer for a minute or two until it starts to thicken (it should cover the back of a spoon). If it’s too thin then simmer until it thickens or if it’s too thick add a bit more beef stock.

Once you’re happy with the consistency, season to taste and pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables and simmer for 2-3 minutes to heat through.

* Tip; to make using shallots dead easy, soak them in a pan of boiled water for 10-15 minutes. Take them out and run them under a cold tap until cool enough to handle. The skins will come off much easier.