A Sunday Stew

Shit weather outside on a Sunday = The desire to create something warming and decidedly 'Sunday' feeling to combat it

I managed to get some shin of beef from the butchers. A massively reasonably priced cut of meat and totally delicious. Just over a kilo of it set me back a fiver. Not bad at all. I've seen a beef shin elevated to pure levels of greatness and grace the table of Les Trois Garcons. If it's good enough for there, then it's certainly good enough for me.

Thing is with shin, it needs to be cooked for a long time; like a really long time. Otherwise it'll be tough as old boots and really fatty. Ergh. It is therefore ideal for stew. As is a miserable rainy day.

So here is the recipe for my really simple rainy day beef stew with cheese dumplings. This recipe makes enough to feed 6.

1kg stewing beef, chopped into chunks (I used shin of beef)
2 onions, chopped into chunks
4 carrots, peeled and chopped into large chunks
4 sticks celery, chopped
150g button mushrooms
1 litre beef stock



This is a really simple recipe. No fuss.

Take your diced beef and coat in seasoned flour. Heat some olive oil in a large pan (which has a lid, you'll need it later) and fry the beef to seal it, but do this in batches. Two should do it. Set the beef aside.



Reduce the heat and add a knob of butter. Add all the chopped vegetables and mushrooms, season and gently fry these for 20 minutes. Return the beef to the pan and stir to mix the vegetables and beef together. Cover with the beef stock and place the lid on the pan. Place in a pre heated (180 degrees) oven and leave for at least 2 hours.

Now for the dumplings!



I do love a bit of retro packaging.

Now dumplings are the easiest thing in the world to make, and always benefit from creative additions. They may come in the form of a load of chopped parsley and other fresh herbs or horseradish, but on this occasion I punted for mature Cheddar and wholegrain mustard.

175g self-raising flour
75g shredded suet
1 tsp baking powder
A small handful of parsley, roughly chopped
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
100g mature Cheddar, grated
good pinch salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
water, to mix

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then add the beaten egg and bring all the ingredients together. Add a small amount of water at a time until a sticky consistency is achieved.

Remove the stew from the over and break off the dumpling mixture and roll into balls (not too big mind as they expand) and pop into the top of the stew. These quantities should get you about 8-10 decent sized dumplings. Return the lid to the pan, and the pan to the oven and leave to cook for 20 minutes. After this time your dumplings will be cooked, but me, I prefer a dumpling with a crisper top. So after 20 minutes I remove the lid from the pan and allow the dumplings to cook uncovered for a further 10-15 minutes.

We served this delicious stew for a cold day with steamed curly kale.