Every home cook should have a classic beef stew recipe in their repertoire.
For those who don’t, why not add this one? It is described as a “traditional braised beef casserole with thick, rich gravy and chunky veg” – an “ideal recipe for cheap cuts” and “guarantees tender results”.
While the beef stew will take around three hours to cook, the prep time for it is only 15 minutes.
This recipe has been given an average five-star rating by people who have tried it out.
Many claimed the dish to be “absolutely delicious” and “easy to make”, so try your hand at making it now over the colder months.
Ingredients
Two celery sticks, chopped
One onion, chopped
Two big carrots, halved lengthways then very chunkily sliced
Five bay leaves
Two time sprigs, one whole and one with leaves picked
One tablespoon vegetable oil
One tablespoon butter
Two tablespoons plain flour
Two tablespoons tomato puree
Two tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Two beef stock cubes, crumbled
850g stewing meat (feather blade or brisket works nicely), cut into nice large chunks
Method
The first step is to preheat your oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and put the kettle on to boil.
Next add the two thickly sliced celery sticks, chopped onion, chunkily sliced carrots, bay leaves and whole thyme sprig in a flameproof casserole dish with the vegetable oil and butter.
Leave the vegetables to soften – this should take around 10 minutes. After, stir in the plain flour until it doesn’t look dusty anymore.
Follow this by adding in the tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and the crumbled beef stock cube.
Gradually stir in 600ml hot water, then tip in the stewing beef and bring to a gentle simmer.
Next, cover the dish and put it in the oven for two hours and 30 minutes. After, uncover the dish and leave it to cook for a further 30 minutes.
For those looking to get “really tender” and “thickened” sauce, they should leave the stew to cook for a further hour indeed of just 30 minutes.
Once the beef stew is done, garnish it with the picked leaves of the remaining thyme sprig.
Taking to the comments section below the recipe, user fstewart1448 said: “Absolutely delicious. I have struggled with beef stew in the past but this was a winner.”
Simonjwelch wrote: “Truly delicious and very quick and easy to make! Enjoyed it with a baked potato and some broccoli.”
tracyacoleman79dogGZRn claimed: “This is hands down the best beef casserole I’ve ever made (I’ve made a few).”
