stew

… simple is the word this weekend and that means large pots of slow-cooked stew for you see whilst the days may be gloriously sunny the nights still have a chill in the air and it’s nice to have a bowl of glorious stew bubbling away… for the aroma alone… and it means I basically don’t have to cook again till Tuesday which is always a bonus in my book…

… I very rarely buy stewing steak, it’s just something I tend not to purchase but I was sent some a while back as part of the fabulous Farmison delivery I received and as winter passed into Spring my plans for the meat seemed to slip away until I realised that I was kidding myself making excuses not to make a stew… a stew is good any time of the year and I had enough meat to use half of it for this and half of it on the barbecue when the summer properly kicks in next month… so stew it is…

beef stew with charlotte potatoes
it almost feels like a cheat to be giving you this recipe as it basically calls for you to bung it all into a pot and slow-cook it for 6 hours but there’s a little prep work for the meat and I guess this wouldn’t be a recipe blog without a recipe, so here goes… and don’t think I neglected the viking either… so simple is this stew that as long as you use a nice robust veggie sausage such as the type made by Cauldron then you can follow the below recipe to the letter simply substituting the meat…

good enough to serve 2 hungry people:
500g stewing steak or 6 veggie sausages – cut into large chunks
4 tablespoons plain flour – seasoned with salt and pepper
a little butter and olive oil
1 medium onion – roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery – roughly chopped
roughy 10 charlotte potatoes cut in half
1 large carrot – roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves – un-peeled
1/2 bulb of fennel – roughly chopped
5 medium mushrooms – quartered
half a glass of white wine
1 large glass of red wine
1 pint of good veg stock
a few sprigs or fresh rosemary and thyme

you’ll need a large pan with a lid that can be used on the hob or in the oven

season the flour then roll the meat or veggie sausages in the flour… I actually had a little flour left in a bag and simply threw the meat in a shook it up

place the pan on a medium heat add some oil and brown the meat or veggie sausages in batches until golden, then set aside

turn the heat up on the pan and throw in the white wine to deglaze the pan, then pop in some butter and the fresh herbs, and once the wine is almost gone turn down the heat and throw in all the vegetables and shimmy them around for about 5 mins.  Pop the meat or veggie sausages in, give it a stir and then fill the pan up with the red wine and the stock

pop the lid on (you may need a layer of foil if your lid does not fit tightly) and place in the oven on 100C for 6 hours

half an hour before you’re ready to serve remove the lid (and foil if using) and turn the heat up to 200C and let the gravy bubble away for 20 mins or so to reduce it slightly… serve with a chunk of freshly baked bread

eat and of course, enjoy!