Amazing slow-cooked meat

Yet another recipe by Jamie Oliver. I know. Despite this concentration on Jamie recipes, I don’t really cook that much by him. Really. I don’t. But some of the recipes are especially good – that seems to be particularly true of the ones that have "amazing" in their name. He’s not overexaggerating – they are. This one is on his website, so I don’t feel bad posting my version of it that I did the other night. I modified some things – but I have made the original recipe too, and that’s good as well.

Amazing Slow-cooked Meat
Serves 6

800 g meat – I use a cut named “högrev”, but I have no clue what the equvivalent would be. Use something that’s reasonably priced and good for stewing.
Handful of fresh parsley
250 g cherry tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
375 ml red wine
500 g can (400 g is fine if that’s what you have) crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp barley
water
salt, pepper, sugar

Start by preheating your oven to 225 degrees. (450F) When it’s hot, put in the tomatoes in any oven-proof dish – you want them to roast a bit. Cut the meat into a few big hunks. Brown in a little bit of oil in a large, deep pan. Add onion, garlic, carrot, celery and parsley, and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the wine, and cook on fairly high heat until all the wine is absorbed. Remove the cherry tomatoes from the oven – they should have cracked a little bit, and leaked some fluids. Add them to the pan, and add the crushed tomatoes too. Add the barley, and enough water to just cover everything. Put a lid on it, and let it all simmer for as long as you can stand. Two hours are good. Hour and a half will usually work, depending on what kind of meat you use.

When you think it’s done, remove the meat, and shred into small pieces using two forks. Add back into the pan, and season with salt, pepper and a pinch or two of sugar. Serve with pasta and some parmesan on top. Yum!