Beef Stew And Dumpling Recipe

This makes 2 or 3 meals and will keep in the freezer.

You can change the root vegetables in the recipe to suit your own taste.

Stew
1kg Stewing Beef or topside
Sunflower or groundnut oil
4 Carrots
3 Sticks Celery
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Medium Onions
2 Parsnips
2 Leeks
1 Celeriac
5 Bay leaves
Thyme fresh or dry
2 tbl tomato purée
2 tbl Olive oil
2 tbl Plain flour
2 tbl Honey
1 tsp Salt
1 Bottle Red wine
250ml Beef stock

Dumplings
100g Self raising flour
50g Beef suet
4/5 tbl cold water
Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 170c or Gas 3

Wash and peel the vegetables and cut in rough 2cm large chunks.

Trim the fat from the beef and cut into roughly 2cm cubes. Heat the sunflower oil in a large pan or casserole over a high heat and brown the beef. Remove the beef and oil from the pan and allow to drain.

Add the olive oil to the pan over a medium heat  and add all the vegetables and stir while cooking for 5 minutes. Add the thyme, bay, garlic and tomato purée to the pan and stir well. Put the beef in the pan and add the plain flour and stir well. Pour the whole bottle of win into the pan and increase the heat. Add the salt and enough beef stock to cover the pan contents. When the stew starts to simmer and thicken cover and cook in the oven for 4 to 6 hours

Remove the pan from the oven and stir a couple of times during cooking.

Taste the stew and correct the seasoning. If the wine gives a bitter after taste add the honey to correct this.

To make the dumplings combine the flour, suet, salt & pepper. Add enough of the cold water to make a dough. Divide into 6 or 8 even size balls and place on the top of the stew to cook for 45 minutes.