Beat the cold weather by cozying up to a bowl of this hearty beef stew. Rich, warm, delicious and simple to make. With a horrible cold spell forecast this week I will be making this using the slow cooker –  prepare  in the evening, leave in the fridge overnight, take out first thing the next morning(to take the chill out of it) and after half an hour or so put it in the slow cooker on Medium for 6-8 hours. Job done, dinner made, the feeling of freedom is wonderful and you can pat yourself on the back for being totally ahead of the game! No matter what time anyone comes in that evening they can have a piping hot dinner – sometimes I add in a few boiled potatoes at the end of the cooking time to make a complete meal of it plus they soak up some of the juices and go all soft and yummy!

PS: The instructions below are for a slow cooker however to cook in a conventional oven, just increase the amount of stock to 800ml and cook at 160°C / 350°F  for 2½ to 3 hours or until the meat is tender.

Serves 6 – 8

Time: Approx. 30 minutes prep. 4-6 hours in Slow Cooker or 2 ½ – 3 hours in the oven

Ingredients
1½ / 2kg beef steak (sirloin or round), trimmed and cut into cubes
1 large onion, diced
4/5 carrots, diced
400ml beef stock or 1 stock cube dissolved in 400ml boiling water
1 dessertspoon Bovril dissolved in a little hot water
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of tomato purée
2 tablespoons of plain flour
Olive oil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

How to make it……

• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan and sear the meat in batches until well browned.
• Remove each batch of meat to a separate dish / plate. (Note: This quantity of meat would be approx. 4 batches and you may need to add more oil as you go along)
• Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan then add the diced onion and sauté gently for 5 minutes without colouring until soft
• Add the diced carrots to the onions and cook for 2/3 minutes
• Add the meat back to the pan along with any juices, add in the flour and cook, stirring for 2 minutes
• Add the stock gradually to the pan and mix well with the meat and vegetables
• Add the Bovril mixture, Worcestershire sauce and the tomato purée
• Cook in the slow cooker for 4-6 hours on High, 6-8 hours on Medium or 8-10 hours on Low
• Sit back and relax!

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