Beef stew with dumplings
This comforting winter beef stew requires minimum attention and is bursting with delicious savoury flavours.
Ingredients
For the beef stew- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 kg braising beef steak, cut into chunks
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 medium carrots, cut into medium-sized pieces
- 2 celery sticks, thickly sliced
- 3 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- 800 ml beef stock
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 handful thyme
- 1 tsp sea salt crystals (we like Cornish Sea Salt)
- 125 g self-raising flour, plus extra to dust
- 60 g suet
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Stew
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 45 mins
- Cooking Time: 240 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3.
- In a large casserole pan, heat the oil and brown the beef in batches. Remove the beef with a slotted spoon (leaving behind the oil) and set aside on a plate.
- Add the onion, carrots and celery to the casserole pan, and fry for about 10 minutes until softened. Stir in the tomato purée and garlic, cook for 1 minute. Add the beef back to the pan along with the flour and cook out the flour for 1 minute.
- Stir in the beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, thyme and salt. Bring up to the boil, then cover the casserole with a lid, and transfer to the oven for 3 hours.
- When the beef has nearly finished cooking, make the dumplings. Sift the flour into a large bowl, stir in the suet, salt and parsley. Pour in 100ml (3.4oz) water and stir to make a soft dough.
- Carefully remove the casserole from the oven, remove the lid and discard the thyme and bay leaves. Check the seasoning, adding more salt if needed. With lightly floured hands, roll walnut sized pieces of dough and place on top of the stew, spacing them apart.
- Return to the oven (without a lid) for 30 minutes, until the dumplings are cooked and lightly golden. Let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.
This recipe is courtesy of Cornish Sea Salt.
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