Winter Beef Stew

« Recipes | Posted on 11/26/2010 07:27 pm by Ness

I have, for one reason or another, never been great at making stews, despite how easy it should be. This stew is foolproof!!

I originally found it in the Sainsbury’s baby magazine but have tweaked it (to add booze) and it is glorious and perfect for these freezing nights. It also makes 2 batches so freeze one for when it’s so cold you can’t be bothered to go to the shops!

Ingredients:

  • Large pot with a lid
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 900g stewing steak cubes
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • very small swede or turnip (or half a larger one), diced
  • cpl handfuls frozen peas
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree or tomato ketchup
  • 375ml red wine
  • 375ml good beef stock
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt & pepper

Method:

  1. Heat half the oil in your large pot, and brown half the beef all over (3-4 mins). Remove with a slotted spoon and brown the other half. Add more oil if necessary
  2. Add the rest of the oil to the pot and saute the onion over a low/med heat for around 5 mins. Increase the heat and add your carrots and swede/turnip for a further 5 mins
  3. Return your browned beef to the pan and add the flour, mustard & tomato puree/ketchup and mix together well
  4. Add your stock, red wine, bay leaf & thyme stalks. Bring the mix to the boil and then turn to a low heat and simmer for at least  1.5 hours until the beef is tender and the sauce is thick and glossy.
  5. Serve stew with new potatoes, mash or crusty/garlic bread and some green beans for a fantastic easy one pot dinner

This recipe would also be perfect in a slow cooker. Just reduce the liquid of the stock & the red wine by about 50ml each.