Welcome back to Tuesday's recipe series, where each week I share a new recipe which you can download for free. When there is a collection on the blog, I will be showing you how to use them to create weekly, fortnightly and monthly meal plans. Today's recipe is a delicious slow-cooked beef casserole!
Do you own a slow cooker? We got ours a few years ago, and it is a well-used piece of equipment in our house over the winter months (although it really does take up a lot of room in the kitchen cupboards!).
What I love about slow-cooker meals is that there is very little prep - you seal the meat and pop it in the pot, then quickly cook the veg to soften it, throw it in with the meat and some flavouring and you are good to go! With most slow-cooked meals, I just grab whatever veg I have on hand and throw it in - zucchini, carrot, potato, sweet potato, red capsicum, mushrooms. Anything tastes good when it has been cooking away for 6 hours!
If you're super organised, you could have all your veg pre-prepared from your shopping trip, or prepare everything the night before to make the meal even easier to throw together in the morning. Your dinner can be cooking away all day while you're at work or busy with the kids, and you don't need to think about it until that little timer goes off. Perfect! (NB: You could also do this meal on the stove-top if you don't have a slow-cooker).
With a hearty meal like this, you may choose to have it as is, or serve it with a side. We like our carbs in this house, so it'll be either risoni, rice, mashed potato (in which case, I don't add potato to the dish), or some delicious crusty bread to mop up the juices. I hope you enjoy this meal!
Slow-cooked beef casserole
Ingredients
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
2 potatoes
1 zucchini
2 tbsp olive oil
600g chuck steak, diced
2 rashers of bacon, diced
1/4 cup plain flour
2 cups beef stock
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cinnamon
Salt & pepper
Method
Roughly chop all the veg (or put in a food processor for quicker prep)
Lightly flour and season the meat
Heat half the oil in a pan and add the meat (in batches if necessary) to seal, then put into the slow cooker pot
Once the meat is done, pour the rest of the oil into the pan and add onion, carrot, bacon and celery for 3-5 minutes until the vegetables are softened
Add these and all other ingredients to the slow cooker
Cook the stew for 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high
Season to taste and serve as is, or choose a side - rice, risoni, crusty bread or mashed potato (omit the potato from the main recipe if you choose this option) (Serves 4)
