Even though the last few days have been a bit on the warm side, I still pretend it's sub-10 degrees as an excuse to make winter comfort food.
In the short time I have had my new mini slow cooker, I have fallen head-over-heels in love with it. It has cooked us dhal, beef bourguignon and now it has provided us with a delicious beef casserole.
Oh, how I love it so.
Maybe it is my love of potatoes that has influenced this love. I didn't realise how much I have missed mashed potato until now.
Beef-based casseroles are pretty stock standard. I always thought they were complicated, but all you need is beef, onions, tomato paste, red wine, a bit of beef stock and you're away.
I was searching online for a recipe when I came across one from Jamie Oliver that called for rosemary.
I planted a rosemary plant at the beginning of last year and it is the only one of the many herbs that I planted that hasn't died.
In fact, it's done quite the opposite: it's resilient and thriving in the miserable patch of soil in which it's rooted.
I love rosemary. And I was especially excited to throw it into a casserole.
While I was going to follow that particular recipe just to be safe, my plans went out the window when I ended up being rather heavy-handed with the wine and tomato paste. I'm also a firm believer that a casserole can never have too many onions.
I put it on at 9am on the low setting and flicked it on to high for about two hours when I got home at 4pm. (Partly because it was still a bit sloshy from my generosity with the wine bottle and I needed to thicken the sauce.)
It disturbed me somewhat to find myself enjoying a few swigs of merlot I snuck at 9am while preparing this. Probably not the best of beverages to have before breakfast, but quality control is important.
Slow-cooked beef and rosemary casserole
Serves four
400-500g chuck/skirt/blade steak (get the cheapest, nastiest, toughest stewing steak you can get your hands on as, by the end of the slow-cooking process, it will melt in your mouth regardless of how it started out)
2 large onions, sliced into wedges
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped in half
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into chunky slices
1 large kumara (optional), cut into cubes
1-2 parsnips (optional), cut into chunky slices
one small tin (115g) tomato paste
1 cup of cheap red wine (that leaves two-thirds of the bottle for Monday night)
4 tsp beef stock powder
enough water to cover everything (about 2 cups)
a good handful of rosemary leaves (probably the majority of leaves from one long frond of a plant)
1/2 tsp celery seeds (or a couple of stalks of chopped fresh celery)
a good dosing of salt and pepper
flour to dust
20g butter
Dice the beef steak into 5cm cubes, toss in flour and brown in a large frying pan with the butter and the rosemary leaves.
Once all the cubes are browned (you may need to do this in batches), place the beef in the slow cooker.
Add the onions, carrots, parsnips, kumara and garlic.
Pour in the wine, stock, tomato paste and water as well as the celery seeds/fresh celery and salt and pepper.
Give the contents a good stir to mix together.
Turn the slow cooker on to low and cook for nine hours (or four and a-half on high).
If you are at home, give the contents a stir every few hours and, if you want an especially thick sauce, turn the heat up to high for the last couple of hours.
Serve with some good buttery mashed potatoes.
Too easy.
Enjoy!
