Beef and Red Wine Stew, in the slow cooker - oh my!

Today I present to you one of the most delicious Beef Stews I've ever made, and I've made a lot of them. I've been working on a stew that has all the essential elements of the beef falling off the fork, perfectly balanced flavours, and with a rich, red wine and mushroom gravy. However, I wanted a stew that would also be perfect as a filling for Beef Pies, which we love.  The meat filling in a Beef Pie needs to have a tanginess to its flavour, and this is where the Worcestershire Sauce's umami properties make a big difference to this beef dish.

So, whilst the ingredients of this stew aren't dissimilar to those of my 

French Beef Bourguignon, which of course has a lot more red wine and some bacon in it, my beef stew recipe makes the perfect meat pie. All of the flavours are still perfectly balanced with the beautiful thyme sprigs, bay leaves and other ingredients perfectly complimenting each other.

We are on the last throes of Winter now here in North Queensland, and when I made this a couple of days ago there was a cold snap, the temperatures were down to 9 degrees C in the morning, so the timing was perfect.  This is a big bowl of Winter comfort food. We are only eating beef a couple of times a week now, and for that reason when I cook a cut of beef, I want to do something really special with it. This dish is within the capabilities of the home cook, which is what I definitely am. 

Why did I choose to cook this in the slow cooker?

There are many ways to cook a stew, on top of the stove, in the oven, or in the pressure cooker, however I knew it was going to be a busy day, so it suited me to start the food preparations early in the morning, and place it all in the slow cooker, knowing it would be cooked by mid-afternoon, would keep warm, and would be ready for me to thicken close to dinner time. This all went according to plan. However, I know this recipe would work equally as well in the pressure cooker if that's what you prefer, or even cooked more like a casserole in the oven. Just the times would need to be adjusted.

Ingredients:

Serves 6-8

Cook 7 hours in the slow cooker, or 3 1/ 2 hours on a higher heat in the slow cooker

1 kilo (2 pounds) good quality chuck steak, cut into 3 cm or 1 1/4-inch pieces 

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large brown onions, chopped roughly (or 2 leeks)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 bay leaves

4 sprigs fresh thyme (or use 2 teaspoons dried thyme)

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon paprika

400 g (12 1/2 ounces) canned whole peeled tomatoes

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons tomato sauce or 2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon salt plus extra to taste if needed at the end of cooking time

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup (250 ml) low-salt beef stock

1/2 (125 ml) cup red wine (optional)

4 thinly sliced carrots, about 1.25 cm thick

2 large celery stalks, cut into 2 cm pieces

250 g (8 oz) button mushrooms, halved

3 diced potatoes, optional

1/4 cup corn flour + enough water to make a paste for thickening at the end

Method:

Cut the beef into 3 cm (1 1/4-inch) pieces. There's no need to sweat over this, just large chunks will be fine, as they will be cooking in the slow cooker and need to be larger rather than smaller, to allow for a little shrinkage of the meat.

In your heavy based frypan, heat the olive oil over a medium to high heat. The meat needs to be browned, and not stewed at this stage, so the pan needs to be hot enough to sear and seal the meat. Cook the beef, in batches, until browned on both sides. I did mine in 3 batches and by the 3rd batch, the pan was perfectly hot, and it didn't take long at all to brown the beef. We are aiming for lovely browning on the base of the pan which adds to the overall flavour of the stew. Transfer the browned beef to a 4.5 litre (8 cup) slow cooker, or whatever size you own should be ok. 

Now add the garlic and onion to the same frypan. Stir it as it cooks, scraping up some of those tasty brown bits as you go. That's where the real flavour lives.

Add the tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, the tomatoes, red wine, stock, bay leaf, pepper, salt, paprika and thyme, and bring to the boil. Give the mixture a good stir and a scraping of the base of the pan to remove the last of the browning, and transfer to the slow cooker.

 Add the mushrooms, carrot and celery to the pot and give the contents a good stir. Add the diced potatoes now if you are using them. Sometimes I sauté the carrots and celery with the onion, which draws out even more flavor with the vegetables. If you have other bits and pieces of vegetables in your vegetable crisper, such as a zucchini or a piece of cauliflower, they can also be added. Hope I haven't forgotten to list everything, and if you discover that I have, just add it to the pot now, or if you have forgotten to add an ingredient, just add it now. Stews are very forgiving.

Add the lid to the pot, and cook on a low setting for 7 hours, or a high setting for 3 1/2 hours. This may vary depending on the age and style of your slow cooker. Check that the meat is tender and cooked right through before thickening. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs. Have a taste and add more salt or pepper if needed.

Thickening the Stew:

There will be some liquid which requires thickening to become a rich gravy. Mix 1/4 cup of corn flour in a small bowl with enough water to make a paste. Add this to the stew and stir. Turn your slow cooker to the high setting, without the lid on and cook for another 10 minutes. In my slow cooker this happens quickly. If it hasn't thickened enough for your preference, just add some more corn flour and water, and stir through and wait for it to thicken a little more. (When cooking a stew, it is impossible to gauge perfectly the amount of liquid in the pot at the end of the cooking time, as a delicious gravy is essential to a tasty stew and different meats and vegetables produce varying amounts of liquid.)

Serve with mashed potato and pumpkin and a green vegetable, and some bread to mop up the gravy. You might not want to serve it with mashed potato if you added potato to the vegetables in your stew.

Cook's notes:

• Gravy beef can be used instead of Chuck steak, and it might be cheaper, but it is a leaner meat, so the beef might not be as tender.
• LEFTOVERS: Fridge 4 days, freezer 3 months
• Chuck steak has been up around $21.00 a kilo at the butchers, then it came down to $18.00, and when I saw the chuck steak I used in this dish for $13.00 a kilo at the supermarket I bought 2 kilos and put 1 kilo in the freezer. This meat is just so tender, so I'm really pleased with my purchase.
• If you don't drink red wine, and don't wish to use it, then just use an extra 1/2 cup of beef stock. I always try to add wine to my beef stew.
• The beef stew filling is also perfect for making meat pies, which we love to make in our pie maker for a casual dinner. 

Can you think of anything better to eat for a cold Winter's day? (Your answer should be no!) Although we also love a good soup.

Warm wishes,

Pauline