Food & Wine
Slow cooker beef stew
This is a fantastic and filling meal for cold winter nights, great served with some warm fresh bread with a bit of butter.
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
- 800g tinned whole tomatoes
- 6 potatoes, cut into cubes (can leave skins on)
- 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 onions, chopped into large pieces
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 900g stewing beef, trimmed and cut into cubes
- 1 tbsp. dried Italian herbs
- 3 cups beef stock
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ¼ cup plain (all-purpose) flour
Method:
- Pour the tomatoes into a slow cooker (juice and all). Crush them with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. Add the potato, carrot, onion and celery.
- Heat the oil in large frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the beef in batches until browned, then transfer to the slow cooker, along with any juices in the pan.
- Sprinkle the Italian herbs over the beef and vegies and then add 2½ cups of the beef stock. Give the mixture a quick stir then add the bay leaves.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- About 20 minutes before serving, add the peas and season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and the remaining beef stock to make a smooth paste. Stir into the stew. Continue cooking for 15-20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
- Remove and discard bay leaves before serving.
What’s your favourite winter recipe? We’d love to hear it! Share it with us in the comments below.
Written by Melissa Hansen. Extracted from the book Slow Cooker Central 2.
The book includes more than 270 new recipes from the massively popular Slow Cooker Central website and Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families Facebook Page. Click here to purchase your copy.
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