Winter Warmer One Pot Beef and Root Vegetable Stew

Beef and root vegetable stew is garnished with fresh parsley

Winter is already starting to bite for many of us and the days of summer salads for dinner are pretty much over for another year. It is more likely to be a hot, hearty meal you crave for dinner when the nights are dark and cold and although this stew does take a few hours in total to prepare, there is very little hands-on prep required and everything is simply cooked in the one large pot. You could of course even prepare this stew in your slow cooker or crockpot, leaving it to gently simmer away while you are at work. A further alternative would be to prepare the stew one night, let it cool, then refrigerate it in an appropriate container that it only takes a few minutes to gently reheat for dinner the following night.
 

Principal ingredients for beef and root vegetable stew

Ingredients (Serves Two)

3/4lb diced stewing beef
2 medium potatoes
1 small Swede turnip/rutabaga
2 medium carrots
1 small onion
1 small leek
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
2 pints homemade beef stock
Chopped parsley to garnish

Vegetables are sliced and chopped for adding to beef stew

Method

Start by preparing the vegetables. The onion should be peeled, halved and sliced. The carrots, potatoes and Swede/rutabaga should be peeled and roughly chopped. The stem only of the leek should be washed and sliced in to quarter inch thick discs.

Beef for stew is firstly browned in a large pot

Put the olive oil in to a large pot and bring it up to a medium heat. Add the beef only and stir it around with a wooden spoon until it is evenly browned and sealed.

Vegetables and seasonings are stirred through the browned beef

Add all the vegetables, the thyme and some salt and pepper to the browned beef and continue to stir over a medium heat for a couple of minutes.

Beef stock is added to the browned beef and vegetables

Pour the beef stock in to the beef and vegetables and turn up the heat until the stock reaches a simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover and cook for two and a half hours or until the beef is tender.

Beef and root vegetable stew is ready to serve

When the stew is ready, taste it for seasoning and adjust where required, turn off the heat and leave it to rest for fifteen minutes. Ladle in to two deep serving plates and garnish with the chopped parsley.

Beef and root vegetable stew is ladled in to serving plates