Grim up North Heath

Tag: dumplings instructions

  • Slow beef stew

    Slow beef stew

    A favourite most of the year, more so when it’s chilly. This version takes two hours or more to cook. There’s a fast recipe that takes less time and uses a pressure cooker.

    Timings: prep – 10 min Cook – 2 hours (or more)

    Feeds four. Total cost (Nov 2025): £6.00 (stew) 60 p (dumplings)

    Timings: Prep: 30 min. Cooking: 40 min Eat: 10 min

    Ingredients

    Stew

    400 – 500 g cubed beef

    Half a diced onion

    two cloves garlic

    two carrots, diced

    400 g potatoes, cut into 2 cm pieces

    one turnip, dice to the same size as the potatoes

    Dried herbs – oregano, thyme and a bay leaf

    Fresh rosemary (from the garden)

    chilli flakes

    beef stock pot

    Veggie gravy granules

    can of cannellini beans

    Dumplings

    100g self raising flour

    50g suet (beef or vegetable)

    Salt and dried herbs (a teaspoon or so of oregano, some black pepper and anything else you fancy)

    water

    The beef is the main cost of this dish, you can economise a bit but with cheaper beef you get more hard fat, which is unpleasant.

    You’ll need a frying pan and a casserole dish.

    Your choice of veg to add to the stew is personal, of course. I add turnips because they add an earthy taste to the stew, which not everyone likes.

    1923 Bamforth postcard celebrating the turnip. James Bamforth & Co were probably best known for their saucy seaside postcards
    Turnip! Baldrick’s favourite vegetable, they add an earthy flavour to the stew. Swedes can also be used.

    Preheat the oven to 160 C/ gas 5.

    Brown the beef in a little oil and add to the casserole dish when done. Fry the onions, garlic, herbs and spices before adding them to the pan. Dice the potatoes and turnip and add these to the rest of the ingredients. Add the stock pot or stock cube.

    Beef, potatoes and turnip in the pot. Onions, garlic and herbs are hidden. Need to add cannellini beans and stock.

    Drain a can of cannellini beans, add these and enough water to cover the ingredients. Give the while thing a good stir and put in the oven for at least 2 hours.

    Beans and stock added. Now to cook for at least two hours.

    Make the dumplings: Add the flour, suet, herbs and salt to a bowl. Gradually add water and stir well to get a dough that you can form into balls. These don’t need to be perfect. If the dough is too wet, add flour to the mix until you’re happy with how the dough behaves.

    Uncooked dumplings. You don’t need to be very rigorous getting spherical dumplings, rougher dumplings will fluff up just the same.

    About 20 minutes before serving, add the dumplings to the stew and cook for a further 20 minutes.

    Slow cooked beef stew recipe.
    Dumplings done, stew ready to serve.

    I did this using the slow method because we had to split out mealtime. Younger daughter has tap lessons that run until nearly 9 o’clock, so I served the rest of us at seven, then reheated the stew and added fresh dumplings to cook while I went to get her.