From My Kitchen

This is the perfect stew to make on the seemingly never ending wet rainy days of a UK winter. Tastes wonderful, but alas it doesn’t help with my curly hair that I’m sure must be visible from space due to said rain. Maybe I need to move to a drier climate? In the mean time, I’ll keep making this. Easily serves 6, so I generally freeze half for another day.

Ingredients

1kg stewing beef (ask your butcher for big chunks)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion

2 sticks celery

2 large carrots

2 parsnips

1 cup red wine

2 cups beef stock

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 bay leaves

2 anchovy fillets

2 tsp dried oregano

Method A – Slow cooker

1. Peel and chop your veg into whatever sized chunks you feel like, and fling them in the bottom of your slow cooker.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the meat at a high heat in a couple of batches until it is browned all over.
3. Throw it on top of the veg in the slow cooker, including any liquid in the pan.
4. In the same pan, pour in the wine to deglaze it, and scrape up any sticky bits of flavour that the meat has left behind. Chuck that into the slow cooker too.
5. Add the stock, bay leaves, chopped anchovy fillets, dried oregano and tomato puree into the pot and stir the whole lot to combine.
6. Put the lid on, and turn the slow cooker onto high for an hour, then down to low for another 4-5, or leave it on low all day until ready to eat.
7. Serve with mash, I think that’s obligatory. As is a glass of wine, because you’ve opened a bottle for the recipe and it would be daft to waste it.

Method B – Oven

1. Heat oven to 140C.
2. Peel and chop your veg into whatever sized chunks you feel like, and put them to one side.
3. Heat the oil in whatever cast iron stove to oven dish you are using or a large frying pan if you’re going to transfer to a casserole, and fry the meat at a high heat in a couple of batches until it is browned all over.
4. Put the meat and veg in your oven ready receptacle, including any liquid in the pan.
5. If using a frying pan, pour in the wine to deglaze it, and scrape up any sticky bits of flavour that the meat has left behind. Chuck that into the casserole, or just add the wine in if not using a frying pan.
6. Pour in the stock, bay leaves, chopped anchovy fillets, dried oregano, tomato puree and stir the whole lot to combine.
7. Put the lid on, then fling it into the oven for 4 hours or so.
8. Mash is still obligatory (wine too).