Link to Recipe

Beef stew

Serving size: 4

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
25 Grams Butter
750 Grams Braising steak, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 Tablespoons Plain flour
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
175 Grams Baby onions, peeled (or equivalent regular onions)
150 Grams Celery, cut into large chunks
150 Grams Carrots, cut into large chunks
2 Leeks, roughly chopped
200 Grams Swede or turnip
150 Millilitres Red wine
500 Millilitres Beef stock (plus extra to top up as needed)
2 Bay leaves (calls for fresh but I used cupboard)
3 Tablespoons Fresh thyme leaves
3 Tablespoons Chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
1 Worcestershire sauce, to taste
1 Tablespoon Balsamic vinegar, or to taste
1 Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
125 Grams Plain flour (dumplings), plus extra for dusting
1 Teaspoon Baking powder (dumplings)
1 Salt, a pinch (dumplings)
60 Grams Cold butter (dumplings)
1 Water (dumplings), enough to make a dough

Instructions

1

For the beef stew, heat the oil and butter in a large pot and fry the beef until browned on all sides. Sprinkle over the flour and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and all the vegetables and fry for 1-2 minutes.

2

Stir in the wine, stock and herbs, then add the Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar, to taste. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover with a lid and cook for about two hours, or until the meat is tender.

3

For the dumplings, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and enough water to form a thick dough. With floured hands, roll spoonfuls of the dough into small balls.

4

After two hours, Preheat the oven to 180C. Once hot, take a few ladleful's of stew and pour into an ovenproof dish/bowl. Place the balls on top of the stew. Move the stew and balls to the oven and cook for a further 20 minutes, or until the dumplings have puffed up and are tender and golden brown on top.

5

Optional: serve with mashed potatoes and top with the stew and dumplings. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.