Slow Cooked Beef Stew

I love to come home to the smell of home cooked food but as I'm the only one that cooks in our house this is a rarity. That's why I love my slow cooker and this hearty winter dish is a favourite for all the family. Thick gravy and tender slow cooked beef ideally served with mashed potatoes, cabbage and some nice crustybread to mop up. Great to prepare all the vegetables the night before especially if slow cooking.

Ingredients

1.2L (2 pints) water boiled from a kettle

1/2 a swede, cut into small chunks

3 medium sized carrots, cut in chunks

mushrooms (as many as you want)

1 large pack of lean stewing steak or rump steak, cut into small even chunks

2 tablespoons oil

75g (3 oz) flour

2 tsp dried parsley

2 tsp dried thyme

3 to 4 beef stock cubes (I normally add 3 then if when cooking you feel it needs more flavour add another)

5 twists of Black pepper from mill

splash or two Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp Marmite

1 desertspoon of tomato puree (if handy don't worry if you haven't got any)

method

1.	Put the kettle on so that you have boiled water ready.
2.	Prepare vegateables and put into stockpot or slow cooker.
3.	Put the oil and beef into a large bowl and coat the beef with the oil using wooden spoon or your hands.
4.	In another large bowl combine the flour, herbs, pepper and 3 stock cubes. Add the beef to the flour mixture (keep the oil separate as you will need this later) and coat the beef with the flour.
5.	Add some of the oil from the other bowl to a large frying pan or wok and heat gently. Take out the beef and add it to the hot oil (leave any excess flour in the bowl for later). Add Marmite and Worcestershire sauce to the pan and if beef sticks to the pan add more oil. Cook the beef all the way through for about 5 to 10 minutes to seal in the flavour.
6.	Add the rest of the flour to the vegetables in the stockpot or slow cooker (if you don't like thick gravy leave it out or only add half of the flour and put more herbs into the stew later if required). Pour boiled water onto the vegetables a little at a time and stir to mix in the flour. Add the beef and cooking juices to the pot and cook all day in your slow cooker on low or medium heat for most of the day on high heat.
7.	Taste throughout cooking to see if stew has enough herbs, pepper and stock cubes. If too thick add more water.
8.	Serve with potatoes and cabbage and crusty bread.

Note:

This recipe should have enough salt from the ingredients listed, however if you prefer you may add more towards the end of cooking to add more flavour. Also, you can use a mixture of herbs such as boquet garni, but thyme and parsley bring out the best flavour in my opinion.