When I was feeling a little morose and slightly bleak (thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic we all have our ups and downs) and I was craving some comfort food, the first thing I thought of is my mom’s slow-cooked beef stew. There is nothing like mom’s cooking, but when one is living away from mom, one has to put on some big girl pants and make some of your own.

So, I decided to look up a nice looking recipe and give it a try. I tried https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/irishbeefstew_73826. Initially, I was rather skeptical this would turn out well, but it was honestly one of the nicest foods I’ve ever made and I’ll remember this glorious meal for a long time (I guess until I make it again!)

Ingredients:

With what I had available from my shopping, I adjusted the ingredients a little in my recipe.

• For the pot of stew
  • 1.25kg Stewing beef
  • 2 Roughly chopped carrots
  • 200g Chopped mushrooms
  • 1 Chopped red onion
  • 2 Medium-sized rooster potatoes chopped
  • A blob of olive oil
  • 425ml Red wine
  • 425ml Stock (I just used vegetable stock)
  • Ground salt and pepper
  • A shake of mixed herbs
  • A blob of pureed garlic
• For the roux
  • 50g Salted butter melted
  • 50g All-purpose flower

Method:

Prep time: 30 minutes; Cooking time 3.5 hours

• Make the stew:
  • Put a blob of olive oil in a frying pan and brown all the veggies on a high heat
  • Put the veggies aside when they are done
  • Add another blob of olive oil in the pan and brown the meat
  • Add the meat and veggies into a pot on medium heat
  • Add the wine and stock to the pot, stirring occasionally
  • When the pot starts bubbling, turn down the heat to a simmer
  • Put the lid on the pot with a gap allowing the air to escape, and leave for about 3 hours
  • Every hour or so, check on the pot and give it a stir
  • When hour 3 has passed, the meat should be soft and tender
• Make the roux:
  • The easiest way to make the roux is to use a Pyrex jug in the microwave
  • Add the butter to the jug and on low heat, put the jug to the microwave for 20 seconds
  • Take the jug out and stir the butter, it should be runny
  • Add the flour to the jug and stir
  • Pop the jug back in the microwave for another 20 seconds
  • Take it out and stir, repeating twice more to lightly cook the roux
• Add the roux to the pot:
  • With the meat and veggies still out of the pot, add the roux from the jug into the pot and crank up the heat of the stove to high
  • Stir the contents of the pot constantly for about 2 minutes on the high heat
  • Put the heat low again to a simmer and add the veggies and meat back into the pot
  • Give the meat and veggies some time to heat up again

Serve some nice fluffy rice or quinoa and barley.