Beef & Red Lentil Stew
This is my husband's recipe and it's a bit of a favourite in our household in winter as it's warming, tasty and healthy. We make it in the slow cooker but you can just as easily pop it in a casserole dish in the oven instead. It's such an easy dish and you just leave it to cook away without much effort at all.
DIFFICULTY: 2/5
Serves 4
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 500g Diced Beef
- 2 Echalion Shallots
- 3 Cloves of Garlic
- 1/2 a Swede
- 2 Carrots
- 2 Parsnips
- 1/2 cup of Red Lentils
- 1 Sprig of Rosemary
- 1 Sprig of Thyme
- 1 tsp Mustard Powder
- 2 tbsp Beef Gravy Granules
- 600ml Beef Stock
- 2 tsp Worcester Sauce
- 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 tsp Marmite
- 2 tsp Wholegrain Mustard
- Splash of Red Wine
- Salt & Pepper to season
10 minutes to prepare and around 3-4 hours to cook in the slow cooker or in a fan oven at 150 degrees (160 degrees if not)
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the meat, browning it for around 5 minutes. If you're cooking this in the oven then switch your oven on to heat up at this point.
- While the meat is cooking, peel and chop the shallots into large discs and then finely chop the garlic. Peel and chop the carrots, swede and parsnips into chunks then add all of these to the same pan to brown off a little.
- Add the red wine and cook this down with the meat and vegetables for a couple of minutes
- Finely chop the rosemary and remove the thyme from the stems
- Transfer the meat and vegetables to a slow cooker (or casserole dish if you're using) and then add the rest of the ingredients except the lentils and season with salt and pepper.
- Give it all a stir so everything is mixed together and then pop the slow cooker on high (or pop your casserole dish into the oven) and leave to cook.
- After a few hours, check the meat and if it feels tender and is starting to fall apart then this is the time to add the red lentils. Rinse them under water in a colander and then add to the stew. They will only take between 10-20 minutes to cook.
- Serve with some green vegetables or if you're feeling naughty, some homemade dumplings!
