Carbonade from Aosta Valley, Italy easy to make!

Carbonade
This is one of the classic Valdostan stews, and was a mainstay of the valley diet.
The traditional recipe calls for the use of salt-cured beef, which is quite dark and gives the dish its name (carbonade, charbon, charcoal).
Region: Aosta Valley
Preparation: Easy
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
• 2 pounds (800 g) lean beef, cubed
• 2 medium-sized onions
• A bay leaf
• A few cloves
• A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
• A pinch of powdered cinnamon
• A pinch of sugar (optional)
• Some flour
• Beef broth
• 2 cups dry red wine, ideally from the Valle D'Aosta
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper
Preparation:
Flour the beef, and brown the pieces in the butter, fishing them out of the pot with a slotted and setting them aside as they're done. Slice the onions into rounds and brown them in the same pot, add a ladle of broth, and simmer until the broth has evaporated. Add the meat and the spices, shred the bay leaf into the dish, salt it, and add a pinch of sugar if you like. Then add the wine, bring it all to a boil, reduce the heat to a slow simmer, and cook covered, adding more broth as necessary to keep it from drying out.

After about an hour, dust it with a healthy grinding of pepper, and serve it with polenta or boiled potatoes seasoned with butter and sage.
Notes
Now restaurants commonly prepare it with fresh beef, though some marinate the beef overnight in a flavorful marinade. Cooking times have also decreased from the canonical three hours of the original (fresh as opposed to cured beef makes this possible), and now some put the onions through a strainer or thicken the sauce with a little flour. The recipe is drawn from Ricette di Osterie e Ristoranti della Valle D'Aosta