And on the hottest day of the year so far, I publish a post for a warming winter stew *insert laughing emoji*. I’m not so great at posting weather appropriate dishes, am I? Oh well, I stand by this dish, even in the warmer months – and let’s face it, British summertime is anything but consistent, so you’ll probably have need for it soon enough. I am super busy at the moment, having taken on some marketing work (which is what I used to do before kids). So dinner is sometimes taking a back seat, and I have to think ahead a bit more. I’ve started using my Instant Pot pressure cooker quite a bit once again. It is such a great investment for busy working mums, honestly. It’s what I made this stew in. The easiness of this delicious bowl of goodness is just beyond. Seriously. I’m talking 5 minutes of prep and you’re pretty much done.
Even if you don’t have a pressure cooker, you could use a normal casserole pan – or, of course, the other working mum’s kitchen hero, the slow cooker. The beef was falling apart and the beer had such a nice bittersweet note. The kids wolfed it down. And they both even had seconds. I served mine with parsnip and potato mash (the parsnip added with stealth), and loads of kale which had been liberally dressed in extra virgin olive oil.
What I loved about this simple but healthy dinner, was that I could knock it together super quickly in the morning, and then work all day knowing dinner was sorted. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together??
Serves: 4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes (in a pressure cooker) 2 hours in a normal casserole on simmer or 150C, or approx 7 hours on low in a slow cooker
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
450g stewing steak
3 carrots, small dice
1 onion, small dice
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 x 500ml bottle beer (I used Theakston’s XB)
1 tablespoon cornflour, slackened with a little cold water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
Instructions:
- Heat some oil in a pan or the pressure cooker. Soften onion, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Add meat to brown.
- Tip in beer and bring to boil. Pop lid on and pressure cook for 30 mins. Otherwise, transfer to a slow cooker for about 7 hours on low, or simply pop in a low oven for a couple of hours.
- Meanwhile make the mash and kale.
- When it’s done, thicken with cornflour mixture over a low simmer. Add Worcestershire sauced and season to taste whilst it thickens.
- Serve with mash and kale.
