If I Can You Can Beef Stew

From Laura

This is the recipe for the beef stew I cooked last week.  The Husband said it was the tastiest thing I’ve cooked in ten years!  Please note I am a crap cook so this was my ‘once in ten years miraculous culinary moment’, along with the Spicy Butternut Squash soup last week. I can assure you that there will be no more recipes on the blog until 2020.

This stew serves 4 – to be fair it fed 2 adults, one teenager and 2 littlies … just.

Tips : If your kids aren’t partial to leek it’s fine, the leek dissolves to nothing along with the onion.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT lift the lid on your dumplings until the time is up!  … and you can use fresh rosemary in your dumplings instead of  dried herbs if you like.

• 2 pinches dried mixed herbs
• 440g diced beef
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 8-10 new potatoes
• 400g passata
• 200g self-raising flour
• 1 tablespon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 beef or vegetable stock cube
• 100g butter, grated
• 1.4 litre water

1. Peel and finely slice the onions. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a deep saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for a few minutes until soft, then add the diced beef and continue to fry.
2. Add the leek and carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks. Season with salt and ground black pepper and add 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs, then fry for approximately 10 minutes. Stir in the passata, 1 litre water and crumble in 1 beef or vegetable stock cube. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, place 200g self-raising flour in a bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grate 100g chilled butter into the flour, add a couple of pinches of dried mixed herbs (or some freshly chopped rosemary) and then rub together with your fingers so the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Gradually mix in small amounts of cold water until it forms a soft dough. Roll the dough into approximately 12 evenly-sized balls.
4. Chop the new potatoes in half and add to the stew 20 minutes before you add the dumplings.
5. The stew should be nice and saucy by now but, if it looks a little dry, stir in another 400ml water. Turn up the heat and bring it to the boil again. Add the dumplings, pushing them under the surface of the liquid. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the dumplings are puffed up and cooked through.
6. Serve with green of your choice!  We opted for green beans and a nice glass of red (Ribena for the kids!)