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

Spicy Beef and Tomato Stew with Poached Eggs

Eggs are poached in this spicy beef and tomato stew just before it is served

This recipe is similar in some ways to the Mexican breakfast dish that is huevos rancheros but perhaps has more in common with the North African dish, shakshouka. It is simply a spicy beef and tomato stew, slow cooked on the hob, with eggs poached in the pan as the final stage of the cooking process. It has then been served with some very fresh bread.
  

Principal ingredients for this spicy beef and tomato stew

Ingredients (Serves Two)

3/4lb stewing steak or beef
Olive oil
1 small white onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 green bell pepper
1 pint fresh beef stock
14oz can chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
Salt and black pepper
2 large eggs
Sliced basil leaves to garnish
Fresh bread slices to serve

Sliced onion and garlic is added to the browned beef

Directions

Pour a little olive oil in to a deep frying pan which has a lid. The lid will help the eggs poach properly at the end of the procedure. Bring up to a medium heat and add the diced beef. Brown it quickly before adding the peeled and sliced onion and garlic.  Cook for a further couple of minutes before the green bell pepper (seeded and sliced) is added.

Chopped bell pepper is added to the browned beef and onion

Stir fry for a further minute or so before adding the beef stock, tomatoes, paprika, chilli flakes (if you are using them) and salt and pepper. Turn up the heat to bring the liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat and simmer as gently as possible for two hours, stirring occasionally and topping up the liquid level with a little boiling water, only if necessary.

Stock, tomatoes and spices are added to the pot

When the stew is essentially ready, only then is it time to add the eggs for poaching.  First of all, taste the stew and adjust the seasoning if necessary. The eggs should firstly be broken in to a small bowl. This not only makes it easier to add them to the pan, it allows you to remove perhaps any bits of shell which may inadvertently be included.

Eggs should be broken in to a small bowl rather than straight in to the pot

A spoon should be used to make a couple of little wells in the beef and tomato stew. The eggs should then carefully be poured in to the wells.

Eggs are added to wells made in the stew

Putting the lid on the pan at this stage does help to cook the eggs more evenly. They will take about eight to ten minutes, depending upon how liquid or solid you wish the yolk to be served.

The lid should be added to the pan when poaching the eggs

Remove the lid from the pan and scatter over the sliced basil as a final garnish. You may wish to serve the stew in the pan at the table (be sure to sit it on a heatproof board) but it can be dished up in the kitchen if you prefer.

Stew is delicious served simply with some fresh bread