Melly Made It: Beef And Vegetable Casserole

I started cooking at 11am to make sure i had everything ready it took a little longer browning the meat and i also caramelised the red onions which i would usually do when making a casserole on the hob i added a touch of brown sugar and some Worcester sauce to add more flavour and aid the caramelising process. As i had used flour with the beef i was able to make a nice thick gravy to go with it using beef stock and red wine. I poured in some red wine and let simmer for a minute and stirred in a small squirt of tomato paste, a sprinkle of Cinnamon 2 teaspoons of minced garlic and some balsamic glaze vinegar which goes with beef casserole so well! I mixed that up with the beef stock and added some basil and rosemary when i put it all in the slow cooker i gave it a stir and i added 2 bay leaves in.
I also used bacon as it needed to be used up and i also added an extra carrot but they were the only differences i made to the recipe in my slow cooker instructions book.

Here is the original recipe taken from my slow cooker instructions

450g stewing beef
30ml cooking oil
550ml (1 pint) beef stock
25g flour
1 large onion , sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste

cut the meat in cubes and toss into seasoned flour. Heat the oil in the pan and brown the meat. Transfer to the slow cooker. Fry the onions lightly in the pan. Stir in the remaining flour , gradually add the stock and carrots. bring to the boil, transfer to the slow cooker and cook.

high setting will take 4-6 hours and low setting will take 7-10

I set mine to high for 6 hours as i didn't want to cook it on low for 7-10 hours as i need feeding during my evening shift :)

After 6 hours the casserole was amazing, the beef fell apart and I'm glad i didn't pre cook the carrots before i put it in the slow cooker as they were very tender, i think i wont add the red wine reduction next time as it did come out a bit rich but it was still very tasty