Hearty Beef Stew

A delicious healthy recipe commissioned from Sleekgeek Success Story turned Coach,  Sylvia Frank (read more about her here).

Carefully designed to fit in with the Sleekgeek Food List,  Healthy Meal Template, and  Portion Control Guide.

DETAILS

Recommended for:  Lunch or dinner
Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:

• PROTEIN:
  • 500g beef stewing meat

• VEGETABLES/FRUIT:
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 3 medium carrots
  • 4 mini corn (optional)
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 3 Tbsp tomato paste

• SMART CARBS
  • 3 medium potatoes

• HEALTHY FAT:
  • 3 Tbsp olive or coconut oil for frying

• HERBS, SPICES, AND EXTRAS:
  • tsp ground Black Pepper
  • Smoked Paprika
  • tsp dried Rosemary or a sprig of fresh. 
  • tsp salt
  • 3 cups beef stock
  • 1 tsp Thyme (dried) or a few leaves fresh.
  •  or 3 Bay leaves.

• 

• 

UTENSILS:

• Chopping board
• Chopping knife
• Measuring spoons
• Jug for stock
• Pressure cooker, or even a slow cooker.
• Frying pan
• Spatula

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Chop the onion, slice up celery and carrots into thick slices of about 2cm. Peel and crush the garlic.

• Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces of about 5cm.

• Heat the frying pan and add a Tbsp of oil. When the pan is very hot, add the stewing meat and brown on all sides quickly to seal the juices in. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside.

• In the same pan, fry the celery, onion, and garlic for a few minutes just to release the flavours, add the carrot, tomato paste and Thyme, Rosemary, and smoked paprika, then fry a few minutes longer.

• Layer the fried vegetables (called a miripoix) at the bottom of your pressure cooker or slow cooker dish. Add the meat on top, along with the peeled and cubed potatoes and the baby corn (optional).

• Pour in the beef stock and pop the bay leaves in.

• If you are cooking in the slow cooker, set it to low heat for 7 to 8 hours or high heat for 3 to 4 hours. If you are using the pressure cooker, set to ‘meat’.

• You can happily let the stew simmer away in a heavy-based saucepan with a lid on the stovetop, just monitor that it does not burn while it cooks for about two hours.

• When your stew is ready just gently stir it through and check flavours, adjust to your taste.

TO SERVE:

• Ladle out a generous scoop of stew into a warmed bowl. Sprinkle with some fresh, chopped parsley