I made stew yesterday and put it on at around 11AM and we ate at about 7:30PM and it was lovely. Made the recipe up and it worked beautifully (loosely based on my mother's stew recipe).
- Used the stew pack from Morissons for the veggies (it was a whole 50p) = 3 carrots (diced), 1 small swede (diced), 1 parsnip (diced), 2 onions (chopped)
[my dear mama often uses cans of mixed veg for speed, which work well too - I just happen to prefer my veggies in larger chunks :)] - a few whole shallots because I had them lying around (not necessary, but fun)
- a couple of large potatoes, peeled and diced (a can of new pots works as well for speed)
- 1 can tom soup (you could use packet soup and just add the right amount of water)
- 1 can ox tail soup (again you could use packet soup and add the right amount of water)
- about twice as much water as soup (fill the pot until everything is nicely covered)
- 1 oxo cube
- a little plain flour
- approx tbspn corn flour (to thicken the sauce just a little)
- 3 cuts of beef shin (one of the large packs from Morrisons - ~£3.50) - cubed and trimmed
- A splash or two of Worcester sauce
I sweated off the chopped onion until it was soft and added it to the pot.
Then I threw all the veggies in with the soup, the oxo and the water.
Then I mixed up the cornflour with a little water so it was dissolved and added it while giving the whole thing a stir.
Put the cubed beef into a plastic bag with the plain flour and some seasoning and shook it around a bit.
Fried off the beef in a little oil until golden.
Added it to pot, added the Worcester sauce, gave it one last stir, put it on high and left it. (If you were going to be gone all day, low would have been fine).
Would have easily fed five, if not six, hungry people which is why we have it reheated for lunch today - so yummy.