Recipe Instructions:
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
3 carrots, halved and cut into chunks
2 bay leaves
½ pack thyme
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 beef stock cubes or stock pots
900g beef for braising such as skirt, buy a
whole piece and cut it yourself for bigger
chunks or buy ready-diced
2 tsp cornflour (optional)
½ small bunch parsley, chopped
buttery mash, to serve (optional)
Method
Step 1 Fry the onion and celery in 1 tbsp oil over a low heat until they
start to soften – about 5 mins. Add the carrots, bay and thyme,
fry for 2 mins, stir in the purée and Worcestershire sauce, add
600ml boiling water, stir and tip everything into a slow cooker.
Crumble over the stock cubes or add the stock pots and stir, then
season with pepper (don’t add salt as the stock may be salty).
Step 2 Clean out the frying pan and fry the beef in the remaining oil in
batches until it is well browned, then tip each batch into the slow
cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hrs, or on high for 4 hrs.
Step 3 If you want to thicken the gravy, mix the cornflour with a splash of
cold water to make a paste, then stir in 2 tbsp of the liquid from
the slow cooker. Tip back into the slow cooker, stir and cook for a
further 30 mins on high. Stir in the parsley and season again to
taste. Serve with mash, if you like. Leave to cool before freezing.
