Hearty Beef Stew

Posted 2014-10-21 by Lindsay Law ⇒ follow

This is a delicious stew that you can either make using a slow cooker, or in a conventional oven. The beetroot adds colour to the stew gravy, and also has a lovely earthy flavour. The kale is an unusual addition, but it really works, and as a widely-acknowledged super food it's a very healthy addition too. I love the flavour and texture it gives the finished stew.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 hours (slow cooker) or 2 hours (conventional oven)
Makes: 6-8 servings

Ingredients
750g stewing steak cut into small chunks
1 red onion
1 white onion
2 carrots
3 baby swedes or turnips
4 potatoes
2 beetroots
4 or 5 kale leaves
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup red wine
750 ml beef stock

Method

Heat the oil in large pan.

Brown the stewing steak in batches and transfer to slow cooker or casserole dish.

Chop the onion into quite large chunks (you could also add some garlic at this stage)

Gently fry the onion in the pan that you browned the meat in.

Using the red wine, turn the heat up deglaze the pan whilst it still has the onion in it. This will enable you to get all the crispy, flavoursome bits of meat off the pan and into the stew.