Winter Beef Stew

Method For Beef

Put about 6 tablespoons of plain flour on a large plate – season with about 6 shakes of white pepper and mix in.

Take the beef cubes and roll in the flour (cut off any excess fat from the meat).

Just cover the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil and heat (DO NOT BURN) – put the beef cubes in the frying pan and brown gently – turning until all are slightly brown, they all need to touch the bottom of the pan. DO NOT COOK ANY MORE – YOU ONLY NEED TO SEAL THE MEAT. If you only have a small frying pan, you might need to brown half, and then brown the rest. If the meat sticks, add a little more olive oil.

Take a casserole with a lid – put the browned beef cubes in the casserole, and add the following:

Slice1 onion thinly.

Take 1 beef stock cube (Knorr if you can get them, or any other will do) – put into a mixing jug and add ¾ pint of boiling water per beef cube, and mix with a fork until dissolved add to the casserole. Put another ½ beef cube with about 8 ozs of boiling water and add to the casserole – good stir.

Put the casserole on top of the oven and bring to the boil, put the lid on and cook in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 2 hours on gas mark 4.

Method for the stew

Take a very large saucepan add 1½ tablespoons of flora and melt – it can sizzle but do not burn – put all the vegetables in the saucepan and stir – cook gently until you can see through the onion – about 4-5 minutes – stirring occasionally so they do not stick to the bottom. After 4-5 minutes, add 2 tablespoons of plain flour stir gently for about a minute – it gets sticky – but don’t worry – and keep stiring – do not let the bottom stick.

Take 2 Beef Stock Cubes – put 1 in a mixing jug, add ¾ pint boiling water and dissolve add to the Saucepan, repeat with another Beef Stock Cube. Stir and bring to the boil - the pieces should be gently moving in the saucepan.

Add the casseroled beef and all the juices to the saucepan – give a good stir – add about 6 shakes of black pepper – DO NOT ADD ANY SALT – there is salt in the beef cubes so you do not need any extra salt, add 3 bouquet garni bags (from any supermarket) – stir them in - and simmer for 20 minutes. There must be at least a gap of 1½ inches at the top of the saucepan – keep your eye on the saucepan – do not leave the kitchen as you need to stir about every 5 minutes – and watch that it does not boil over.

After 20 minutes everything should be ready to serve – check it is cooked by testing a carrot and a potato – carrots take the longest to cook. It should be thick enough, if it is not, take 2 teaspoons of powder Bisto and 2 teaspoons of plain flour, mix together in a cup, add about 3 tablespoons of cold water and add to the saucepan, stir and bring back to the boil.
I HAVE NOT ADDED BISTO TO YOUR INGREDIENTS ABOVE as you might not need it.

Eat with Crusty Bread – Bon Appetite !!