Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Comfort Food Friday: A hearty slow-cooked beef stew is the ideal dish to brighten up any dreich day

Post Thumbnail

If you are looking for a dish to warm yourself up this weekend, why not try this beef stew recipe.

When I am looking for comfort food, one dish that always gets a resounding “Yum!” in my house is beef stew or casserole.

Slow-cooked beef in a velvety onion gravy with carrots and served with mashed or roast potatoes with any veg you wish; what is there not to like about a stew?

It is indeed one of the quintessential comfort foods – perfectly placed to brighten up any cold and dreich day.

And another fantastic thing about stew is that you can make it the day before and it will taste even better when you eat it or make it in your slow cooker so that it is ready for you coming home from work – if you aren’t currently working from home.

There are many ways to cook a stew, but I like to make mine as per the recipe below.

Beef stew with vegetables

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 400g braising steak or stewing steak cubed
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 2 carrots chopped
  • 1 celery stick chopped
  • ½ a turnip cubed
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 500mls beef stock made with a stock cube

Method

  1. Add the oil to a large pot and fry the beef in batches until it is browned and nicely caramelised. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve.
  2. Put the onion, carrot and celery in the pan and sweat for about 4-5 minutes before adding the tomato puree and Worcestershire sauce and cook for a few minutes. Add the flour and cook it until it is worked into the vegetables.
  3. Return the beef to the pan, add the turnip and the beef stock, bringing to the boil before reducing to a simmer.
  4. Place the lid on and simmer for about 2½ hours. If the gravy is a little watery, at end of cooking process simmer for a little longer with the lid off.
  5. Serve the stew with mashed potatoes or roast potatoes and vegetables of your choice. You can also top with puff pastry, brush with egg wash or milk and cook in an 180c oven for about 25 minutes for the perfect steak pie.

If you are using your slow cooker, simply brown your beef and add all the ingredients to the slow cooker and combine before stewing on low for about eight hours, although check your manufacturer’s instructions to be sure.

Read more…