This delicious rich beef filling can be served with potato mash or can be portioned into individual ‘pot pies’ and topped with puff pastry.
A slow cooker can be used to prepare the dish a day before (the flavours develop beautifully) and then cooked before serving at 180 degrees for 30 mins or until pastry is golden and/or meat is piping hot. Don’t worry about over cooking it on the reheat – it’s more important to get the ‘core’ temperature up nice and high for the sake of taste and safety.
This recipe serves 8 hungry crew (crusty bread & a fresh green salad or veggies are good accompaniments)
INGREDIENTS:
1.5kg of diced rump steak (you can use skirt or chuck steak but rump gives a better yield and flavour)
8 tbsp wholemeal flour
Quality sea salt & freshly ground pepper
1 small tin of tomato paste
2 cans of Guinness
600g onions (roughly chopped) or French shallots (peeled and halved)
4 carrots, diced roughly
5 celery stalks (peeled and diced)
1 bunch thyme
6-8 dried bay leaves
6-8 cloves of garlic
1 packet of McCormick “Slow Cookers Recipe Base – Beef & Mushroom Ragout” (no they’re not a sponsor – it’s just an easy flavour boost 🙂
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter
METHOD:
1. Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Coat the beef with the seasoned flour.
3. Heat oil and butter in a large pan and fry the beef cubes in batches until golden brown all over. Place in slow cooker.
4. Add onion to pan and cook until softened (about 4 mins)
5. Add carrot and celery to pan and cook for a further 3 mins.
6. Stir in tomato paste and garlic – cook for 1-2 mins.
7. Pour in Guinness, add herbs & recipe base. Give it a good stir to cook off a little of the alcohol then pour over the meat in the slow cooker.
8. Set the cooker for HIGH over 3 hours or LOW over 5 hours.
9. During the reheat you may like to add some Swiss Brown mushrooms and cooked pancetta (or bacon) for an extra taste sensation!
Recipe by – The Cabin Fever Cookâ„¢