Beef Stew in the Slow Cooker or Crock Pot

Beef pies, yum, who doesn't like a meat pie?

This very tasty and easy beef stew  can be easily adapted to meat pies or French casseroles served in mini Cocettes, or with the addition of dumplings, can feed crowds of people. 

Matthew and Myrtille gave me a set of Baccarat mini Cocettes for my last birthday, which I just love, and I  know I will be using them regularly for mains and desserts. Now  that the weather is cooling off in the Tropics, it is time for a good beef stew, with pastry of course. Buy your puff pastry and make either individual beef pies, or a large one. Enjoy the left over beef stew on toast for brekkie the following morning.

As I write this, I am reminded of our visit in April 2015, to Goddards, the famous and historical pie shop established in Greenwich, England in 1890. On a cold day, their hand made meat pies, served with mash and mushy peas, and gravy  make the trip very worth while.

Meat pies with mash, mushy peas and gravy at Goddards in Greenwich, England

BEEF STEW in the SLOW COOKER or CROCK POT

Ingredients:

1 kilo good quality chuck steak, cut into 1 inch cubes (ask your butcher to do this)

1/4 cup plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 chopped onion

1 1/2 cups beef stock

4 thinly sliced carrots

1 chopped stalk celery

3 diced potatoes, optional

Method:

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients i.e. flour, salt, pepper, and paprika in a small bowl
2. Add diced fresh meat to slow cooker bowl and coat with the flour and dry ingredients
3. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, onion, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, carrots and celery. Also add
4. potatoes if required
5. Add the lid to the pot, and cook on a low setting for up to 10 hours, or a high setting for 4-5 hours. this varies depending on the age and style of your slow cooker. If you can resist taking the lid off the pot, except to perhaps stir it once, it will cook much faster and more economically.
6. Check that the meat is tender and cooked right through before serving.
7. Serve with home made bread to mop up the gravy.

Home made sour dough bread

Nelson's Ship in a Bottle, by Yinka Shonibare, now permanently on display in front of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

The Cutty Sark, the fastest and most famous tea clipper built, now in dry dock at Greenwich.

Best wishes

Pauline