Slow cooker stew

Having been out for a quick food shop one morning, Sous Chef J asked what we would be having for tea.  So, looking at the contents of the fridge, we decided on a stew... "of some sort".  As we were going to be out for the afternoon, it was agreed that a slow cooker meal would be a good idea.










We gathered the ingredients together and decided on using stewing steak, one onion, tomato puree and vegetable stock.  The onion was chopped roughly and sweated for a few minutes in a pan with a dash of sunflower oil.  At this point a generous squeeze of the tomato puree was added and cooked on a low heat for about 5 minutes.  During this time, we peeled and chopped the carrots and cut the beef into smaller chunks.   We also turned the slow cooker on to heat through at this point.

Next, the beef was added to the onion and tomato in the pan and browned lightly.

Once it was all browned, we added it to the slow cooker together with the stock and carrots.  The lid was placed on the pot and we left the cooker on HIGH for the first hour.  Before we headed out for the afternoon we turned the slow cooker down to LOW.

On our return home at the end of the day, we were greeted with the lovely aroma of our simple stew.  It didn't take long to steam some Brussels sprouts and add some potato wedges... serving up the stew in a pasta bowl and our meal was ready.