One-Pot Beef Casserole

This is a perfect dinner for winter, particularly if you are entertaining - despite its long cooking time this is incredibly easy and requires very little effort!

One Pot Beef Casserole Recipe

Serves 6.

Ingredients:

• 1 kilogram of stewing steak, cut into cubes of approx. 1 inch across
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 pint of hot beef stock (made up from a stock cube is fine)
• 1 glass of red wine (optional)
• 2 medium onions
• 1 medium swede
• 3 carrots
• 5 medium potatoes
• 1 tablespoon paprika (optional)
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preset you oven to 175 C or Gas Mark 4.
2. You need a large lidded casserole dish that will hold all the ingredients, and is safe to go on the hob and in the oven. If you do not have one that you can use on the hob, just use a large frying pan for step 3 and then transfer everything into your casserole dish.
3. Chop the onion (as fine as you like - I prefer it roughly chopped as this adds some texture to the sauce) and then fry in the oil for a few minutes until softened. Add the cubes of beef to the pan and fry on a high temperature, moving the beef around constantly so that it browns evenly on all sides. Add salt and pepper as required - you may not need to add salt at all, as the stock you add later will add saltiness. Once browned, turn the heat down slightly and add the flour and the paprika if using. Stir everything around until the dry ingredients have been incorporated, and then add the glass of wine if using. Add the tinned tomatoes and the stock and bring the contents of the pan up to a fierce simmer. Now pop the lid on and put the dish into the oven, or tip the contents of the frying pan into the casserole dish and then place in the oven.
4. Now you can get on with the vegetables. Peel them and chop them into pieces. The swede will take longer to cook than the other vegetables, so cut this into pieces about half an inch across, while the others you can cut into larger pieces about the same size as the beef cubes.
5. Remove the casserole dish from the oven and add the vegetables. Give everything a stir to ensure that most of the vegetable and meat pieces are under the liquid of the sauce. Return to oven and leave for at least 2 hours, but to be honest if it ends up being in the oven for three then this doesn't matter - the longer you leave it the more tender the meat will be, and the lid should stop the sauce from reducing down too far.
6. The addition of the potatoes means that this is a complete meal as it is, but this is delicious served with crusty bread for mopping up all the lovely sauce, and you may also wish to serve a green vegetable or salad on the side - something like steamed cabbage would be a good option. I tend to put the dish in the centre of the table and let everyone serve themselves.

Variations: you can really use any root vegetables you have handy in this dish, such as parsnips or sweet potatoes (remember though that sweet potatoes won't take long to cook, so either leave them in bigger pieces or add in to the casserole later than your other vegetables). You can also easily expand the recipe to feed as many people as you like - just add more meat and/or vegetables.

Great Fall/Winter Recipes:

• Roast Chicken with Lemon and White Wine Gravy
• Baked Butternut Squash with Melted Cheese Centres
• Spicy Pumpkin Soup
• How to Cook the Perfect Turkey

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