Slow cooked Beef with Ale

Hi Everyone

In winter the slow cooker tends to get a workout in this house. A favourite for my pom husband is beef cooked in ale. Its particularly nice the next day if there are leftovers too.

Ingredients:

1 kg of chuck or gravy beef trimmed and cut into pieces - I like bigger pieces myself but 2-3 cm size is fine
sunflower or canola oil for frying
2 onions sliced
2 tablespoons flour
330 mls ale - I like the darker ales or even a stout
300 mls beef stock
2 tablespoons redcurrant jam or jelly or for a different taste replace with fruit chutney
1 carrot sliced and or 200 grams of mushrooms sliced
couple of sprigs of thyme
3 bay leaves

I put the slow cooker on and place the ale and stock in to start warming up. I heat a couple of table spoons of oil on high in a pan and brown the beef in batches seasoning as I cook. Remove each batch from the pan and place in with the ale and stock.

Reduce the pan to medium add 2 tablespoons of oil and the onions. Cook stirring for 4 to 5 mins until tender. Stir in the flour then add to the beef and ale and stock. Add remaining ingredients and cover and cook for 6-8 hours in the cooker. Stir occasionally and in the last hour if the juice looks too thin just take the lid off and let it bubble away and reduce. Beef should be lovely and tender and check the seasoning when finished.

Serve this with yummy mashed spuds or kumara and some blanched beans or broccoli.

Enjoy xx