This one is a request from my hubby. We were visiting my Nana and Grandad recently and my Grandad who loves to cook served us a bowl of homemade stew. So this is where I got my inspiration for this one!! He went on to tell me that he prepares the stew first thing in the morning in his good old reliable round red casserole dish. Slowly simmering on their flat top stove in the kitchen. His own little slow cooker! Come evening, its ready… a hearty Irish stew.

As my cousin likes to call it “ A poor mans dinner” He is of course right as this dish is quite cheap to make. You can aswell, get two days out of it, depending on how many people you are serving. Traditional stew contains potatoes but I substituted these for butternut squash.

We then veered onto the topic of bread and he explained how shop bought bread “goes off” ridiculously fast so he has been making his own brown bread for quite some time now. Every week he makes a “porridge bread” loaf  in his 1/2 lb loaf tin which is ideal for himself and my Nana for the week. He makes gluten free bread. How ironic is that… this was my very first blog post. Who knew… My Grandad… such an inspiration!

Anyhow, My hubby has been raving about his stew ever since. Poor mans dinner or not, you can’t beat a warming bowl of beef stew.

Here’s my take on it, hope you enjoy,

Aimee x

Heres what you’ll need:

• A casserole dish:

I bought this one in Aldi last week for €30. Which I thought was a steal because its cast iron and you can pay anything up to €100 or more for one of these. This is the first recipe that I’ve used it for and its perfect!!

 

• 1 lb stewing beef cut into chunks
• 2 onions peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 2 carrots peeled and chopped
• 1 butternut squash cut into cubes
• 500ml beef stock
• 1 tsp bisto granules
• 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp passata
• 1 tin green lentils
• Olive oil

 

Here’s how to make it:

• In a casserole dish over a medium heat, saute the beef until well browned and trasfer to a plate and set aside.
• In the same casserole dish, saute the onion and garlic.
• Add the carrots, butternut squash,beef stock, bisto, worstershire sauce, thyme, black pepper, passata.
• Give it a stir and transfer to the oven (with the lid on) for 1 and 1/2 hours at 170 deg c.  (When your veg is cooked its done!)
• After 1 hour, add the green lentils to the dish and return to the oven for the remaining 30 minutes.

 

 

My hubby of course had to have a bowl with some creamy mash. Can be served with some brown or basmati rice, couscous or simply on its own.