In this period of love with my slow cooker I decided to make the family a treat for these cold January days and nothing from my meat eating days sprung to mind like the hearty Beef Stew that I would make as a comforter against colds, ills, & not feeling the happiest bunny in the box.
First I started by drying my lean steak pieces on kitchen paper and then in batches, coating them in a couple of teaspoons of plain flour & dry frying them in a hot frying pan, just until they are browned, these were added with two large pieces of Oxtail, a couple of potatoes, carrots and leeks chopped and a few diced onions. To this I added 2 lites of beef stock, Italian seasoning, celery salt and a dash of guiness.
8 hours and I shall be lifting the lid on what is becoming such an irresistible smell for a non meat eater like myself, and as all casseroles, stews and soups in my opinion taste so much better the following day I shall be making the remaining 6 family members who have circled my kitchen like the bisto sniffer family wait until tomorrow to have this as we do indeed have left overs for tonight!
Once the 8 hours have passed, give it a little stir making sure that non of it has cemented itself to the bottom of the pot & then take the lid off for 45 minutes to give the stew time to thicken slightly, do be careful when stirring that you do not break up the delicate vegetables that are bursting with flavour. Remove the Oxtail and then pop out the nuggets of meat, which should fall apart as you remove it and add this to the stew, ensuring when you serve it that you eye some of the tender oxtail bits for yourself!I love to serve this on its own with some good crusty bread to mop up all that tasty juice, or with home made dumplings, savory cheese scones or if you have a spare 20 minutes and a food processor handy then a short crust pastry to put on the top, portion it out and make small personalised pies.
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