The beef is so tender in this stew that you can eat it with a spoon. As it is long cooked, cuts of beef like blade steak, shin steak and chuck steak will all work in this recipe. This recipe forms part of the August 6 meal planner created in partnership with New World. As an extension in the meal planner, we remove a third of the stew to make pasties for lunch or dinner another time.
Ingredients
| 1 ½ kgs | Beef gravy, cut into 4cm pieces (Main) |
| 3 Tbsp | Flour |
| 4 Tbsp | Extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 | Onion, finely chopped |
| 1 stick | Celery, thinly sliced |
| 2 sprigs | Thyme, large |
| 1 | Bay leaf |
| 4 | Garlic cloves, finely chopped |
| 150 ml | Red wine (Main) |
| 800 g | Carrots, peeled, cut into 5cm long pieces (Main) |
| 750 ml | Beef stock |
| 1 can | Crushed tomatoes, in juice (400g) (Main) |
| 1 ½ kgs | Agria potatoes, peeled, cut into 3cm chunks (Main) |
Directions
- Heat the oven to 180C.
- Put the beef into a large bowl and add the flour. Mix well so the pieces of beef are evenly coated with flour.
- Heat the oil in a large casserole dish over moderate heat and brown the beef pieces in batches. Place them in a bowl and reserve.
- Add the onion, celery, thyme, bay leaf and garlic and fry gently, without browning, for 10 minutes or until the onion is soft.
- Add the reserved beef, turn up the heat and add the wine. Let it bubble for 30 seconds then add the carrots, stock and tomatoes. Mix well, stir in 1 teaspoon salt, cover and place in the oven for 3 hours or until the beef is very tender and the mixture thick.
- About 30 minutes before the stew is ready, boil the potatoes in plenty of salted water until tender. If wished, remove a third of them, put them in a bowl, cool and refrigerate to use later in our meal planner extension recipe, beef and potato pasties (see below).
- Reserve a third of the stew in another bowl, cool and refrigerate if wanting to make the pasties below. Serve the hot stew with the potatoes.
Meal planner extension:Beef and potato pasties
Team the remaining third of stew and potatoes with 500g flaky puff pastry for pasties for lunch or dinner another night. Roll out the pastry and cut into 15cm diameter rounds. To make one pasty: place some potatoes and cold stew to one side of a round of pastry. Brush the edge with beaten egg, fold in half and crimp together with a fork. Brush the top with beaten egg. Repeat for the other pasties. Bake at 200C for 20-25 minutes or until well cooked. Alternatively, you can make the leftover beef and potatoes into one large pie, same cooking temperature and time.
This recipe forms part of the August 6meal plannercreated in partnership with New World.