Beef Casserole

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Quick and easy to prepare, this classic Beef Casserole benefits hugely from a long cook in a slow cooker. The result – melt in the mouth, fall apart beef, swathed in a thick, rich gravy infused with red wine, fresh thyme and bay leaves.

What is the best way to serve this casserole?

I like to make a double batch of this recipe. I freeze it in portions and can then serve it in a range of different ways.

• Serve simply with mashed potatoes: and some vegetables the side.
• Add oven-roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips to the casserole 10 minutes before the end of cooking.
• Lighten the casserole by adding summer flavours as we edge from winter into spring. Add chopped red pepper and courgette to the casserole 10 minutes before the end of cooking.
• Top with buttery, flaky, puff pastry and serve as a pie.

How to make Beef Casserole

Collect all your ingredients together:

• olive oil
• unsalted butter
• onions, peeled and diced
• garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• plain/all-purpose flour
• braising beef, diced
• red wine
• beef stock
• Worcestershire Sauce
• tomato puree
• sprigs of thyme
• bay leaves
• fine sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• brown sugar (optional)

How to make this fabulous casserole:

1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
2. Cook the onions and garlic: on the hob, heat 1 tablespoon oil and 20g butter in the cast iron casserole. Add the onions and cook over a moderately low heat until softened and lightly caramelised. Around 10 minutes. (You may need to turn the heat down as the onion cooks – the onion should only be lightly caramelised/browned)
3. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute, or until aromatic. Tip the onion and garlic into the slow cooker.
4. Prepare the beef: meanwhile, put the beef in a mixing bowl with the flour and mix thoroughly.
5. Melt the half the remaining oil and butter in a frying pan and brown the beef a handful at a time. It is important not to cook too much meat at a time or you will end up boiling it in its own juices rather than frying it. As the meat cooks, tip it into the slow cooker holding as much of the oil and butter back in the frying pan as possible. Add further meat to the pan to brown and add the remaining oil and butter as necessary.
6. When all the meat is browned, deglaze the pan with the red wine and reduce by half. Scrape up all the sticky bits at the base of the pan and pour everything into the slow cooker.
7. Add the beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves and salt and pepper. Stir well and set the slow cooker to low. Cook for 8 – 10 hours or until the meat is extremely tender and falling apart.
8. After a few hours of cooking, taste the sauce. If necessary, add some brown sugar, to taste.
9. Liquid does not reduce in a slow cooker as much as it does when cooking on the hob or in the oven. Check the casserole about half an hour before it has finished cooking. If there is too much liquid, transfer the excess into a saucepan and boil to reduce to a thick syrupy consistency. Return this to the slow cooker and stir well.

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Different ways to serve this casserole

With mashed potatoes:

Serve simply with mashed potatoes: and some vegetables the side.

With Oven Roasted Winter Vegetables

Prepare and oven-roast the vegetables and add to the casserole 10 minutes before the end of cooking. See here for Oven Roasted Winter Vegetables’ recipe.

Extra ingredients required:

• new potatoes
• carrots
• parsnips
• olive oil
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper

With Summer Vegetables

A fabulous way to lighten the casserole and add summer flavours as we edge from winter into spring.

Extra ingredients required:

• courgettes – trimmed and chopped
• red pepper – stem and seeds removed, chopped

Instructions:

1. Prepare the vegetables and add to the casserole 10 minutes before the end of cooking.

Beef Casserole Pie:

Extra ingredients required:

• shop bought, pre rolled puff pastry
• egg wash

Instructions:

1. Unroll the pastry and use the pie dish as a stencil to cut out the pastry top. If the pastry is not quite the right size, patch some pastry on from the remaining pastry, to create the correct shape. You won’t notice when it is cooked!
2. Cut out 1 cm strips from the remaining pastry. Wet the edges of the pie plate with water and use the 1 cm strips of pastry to cover the rim. Brush with egg wash.
3. Add the pastry top and seal the edges with a fork. Brush the pastry top with egg wash and trim the edges with a knife.
4. Make 4 small slices in the pastry before cooking.
5. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 (fan 180°C). Cook in the centre of preheated oven for 30 – 45 minutes, (depending on size of pie) or until everything is piping hot, the pastry has risen and is golden brown.

NB If there is an abundance of gravy, either:

• remove some, reduce it in a pan and return to the casserole before topping with pastry, or
• remove some and serve as additional gravy when the pie is cooked.

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Made this recipe?

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