Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 1.2kg diced casserole beef
• 3 Tbsp flour — staple
• 1 tsp salt — staple
• 1/2 tsp black pepper — staple
• 2 Tbsp olive oil — staple
• 4 carrots, cut into chunks
• 6 pickling onions, quartered
• 250g mushrooms, quartered
• 4 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 500ml beef stock — staple
• 2 Tbsp cornflour
• parsley to serve — optional garnish, skip
• Potato mash, to serve — staple

Method

1. Toss the diced beef with the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl until coated.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Brown the beef hard on each side, working in 2-3 batches so the pan stays hot.
3. While the beef browns, put the carrots, pickling onions, mushrooms, celery, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock into the slow cooker and stir.
4. Add the browned beef and every scrap of the pan juices — deglaze the pan with a splash of the stock to get the fond in.
5. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours, until the beef pulls apart easily.
6. Mix the cornflour with 2 Tbsp cold water, stir into the stew 20 minutes before serving and leave to thicken.
7. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve over potato mash.

Notes

- Protein-first portioning: meat set to 1.2kg per 6 serves to land ~43g protein/serve (house rule). - Only a 20% lift, so the stock, Worcestershire, veg and cornflour all stay at source levels (the flour for dusting goes to 3 Tbsp to coat the extra beef). Brown in 3 batches now rather than 2-3. - Source serves kept at 6 — it's a family one-pot. - Don't skip the browning. It's the whole difference between a stew and a beige slow-cooker casserole. - Calories/protein exclude the mash. Chuck/casserole steak assumed at ~20g protein / 210 cal per 100g raw. - Freezes well — if you're only feeding 3-4 this makes a decent second meal for the freezer. - Veg/staples sweep: veg coverage already clears 150g/serve (carrots, pickling onions, mushrooms, celery ≈ 215g) and there are no pre-packed mixes, so no side was added. Fresh parsley dropped to optional garnish; crushed garlic and cornflour lost their "staple" markers and gained search hints.