Weekly recipes coming from your favourite kitchen.

During the first Lockdown, the weekly recipes were a big hit with the community. So, we have decided to re-introduce them again with some winter warmer recipes this time round!

This week, Mr Pickard (Chef Manager) shows you how to make a comforting winter beef stew, which requires minimum attention and is bursting with delicious savoury flavours.

We would love to see your creations, send your photos to [email protected].

Ingredients

Vegetable oil

1.5 kg Braising beef (Chuck or Brisket)

4 Onions large dice

3 tbsp Plain Flour

1200ml Beef stock

6 Thyme sprigs

450g Chestnut mushrooms.

Hand full chopped Parsley

150g Self-raising flour

70g Suet

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat your oven to 170c (150c fan assisted) Gas mark 3.
2. Using an oven safe casserole pot, heat the oil.
3. Whilst the oil is coming to temperature place the flour in a bowl along with the diced beef. Mix it around in the flour to give it a light coating. Save the excess flour for later.
4. Fry the beef in batches so it is sealed and has a golden-brown colour on all sides. Don’t over crowd the pot as it will cool down too quickly and not seal properly.
5. When all the beef is sealed and coloured, set aside and put the pot on a medium heat, cook the onions for about 5 to 10 mins till golden brown
6. Stir in the remaining flour and cook for about 2 mins, this will thicken the stew further on in the cooking process.
7. Add 200ml of beef stock and deglaze the pot, this will release all the caramelised flour, onion and beef flavours.
8. Add the remaining stock and thyme, bring back to the boil, cover with a lid or you can use aluminium foil and place in the pre heated oven for 1.5 hours.
9. Add the quartered mushrooms and return to the oven for a further 1.5 hours.
10. Make the dumplings by combining the flour and suet add a pinch of salt and pepper and mix in water till a doughy consistency is achieved.
11. Divide the mixture and roll out into small balls, approximately 1 to 1.25 inches in diameter.
12. Remove stew from oven, stir in the parsley and place the dumplings on top of the stew. Cover and put back in the oven for approximately 20 to 30 mins.
13. The dumplings should be nice and puffed up and the stew ready to eat.
14. Serve with your favourite veg and potatoes and for added flavour I like to add a good measure of Worcestershire Sauce during the cooking process.
15. Enjoy!