Rainy day beef, vegetable and bean stew
Miranda Gore Browne shares her comforting and nutritious slow-cooked British beef stew, packed with vegetable and beans. It's just the winter warmer you need on a damp winter's day.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp of rapeseed oil
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 100g smoked bacon, finely chopped
- 800g beef – skirt, short ribs, braising steak
- 3-4 tbsp of plain flour
- Salt and pepper
- 4-5 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 6 medium-sized potatoes, no need to peel
- 200g swede, peeled and chopped
- Celery, sliced finely
- Bay leaves
- 400ml Guinness or dark beer
- 300ml of veg stock
- 2 tbsp of tomato puree
- 1 tin of cannellini or haricot beans
Method
- Put the oil, celery and chopped onions into a frying pan and cook until softened. Take out the onions and celery and put to one side. Fry the bacon in the same pan, put to one side.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Toss the pieces of beef in the seasoned flour, add a little more oil to the pan, or use your cast iron casserole pot. Brown the meat well. Add the tomato puree and cook a little before pouring in the beer. Simmer a little, then transfer to the cast iron pot (if you haven’t already) add all the vegetables, bacon, onions, the bay leaves and the vegetable stock.
- Cover with a lid and put into the oven to bake for an hour. Then turn the temperature down to 160 degrees and bake for another 3 hours.
- Lift the pot out of the oven, stir and add more liquid if needed then add the tin of beans, stir well and put back into the oven – without the lid on – for a final 15 minutes to brown a little.
