Not everything I cook is veggie – hubby is a great meat eater and I have no problem in preparing it for him or others. Anyone who knows me will know that I am a super huge fan of the slow cooker – amazing to spend ten minutes before work putting this bad boy in to cook, then coming home and everything is done and the house smells fantastic! People will seriously think you have slaved for hours over this particular recipe. It’s awesome for a quick supper with rice, mash or chips, or I have served it at a dinner party posh-ing it up a bit with some dauphinoise potatoes. Or you can pop it into an oven dish and stick a slice of pastry on top – and it makes a cracking good pie. It’s great because the slow cooker does all the hard work for you and the meat comes out beautifully tender. And it’s really inexpensive to feed a small tribe as you only need use stewing steak.

Please bear in mind, as with most of my recipes, I’m not one to give exact amounts of anything, as unless you’re making cakes, life quite frankly is too short to weigh and measure unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Now, as a veggie, this is completely possible by substituting the beef for Quorn beef strips and using a veggie stockcube. You can even get veggie bacon these days. Truly, there is no reason why we cannot eat the same as everyone else! Although with the veggie version, I wouldn’t cook for anywhere near as long. Maybe two hours in the oven, or in a little slow cooker on medium all day.

This will serve four people quite happily or two with delightful leftovers to take to work the next day for lunch. Pop in the microwave and I can promise that food envy from those around you will undoubtably ensue.

Ingredients:

One large pack or two smaller packs of beef stewing steak

One large glass of red wine

Four cloves of garlic

Two white onions

One beef stock cube

One small pack of cubed pancetta ham or two rashers of streaky bacon

One pack of button mushrooms

Two bay leaves

Method:

1. Coat the beef in plain flour and fry lightly in a pan until coloured on all surfaces and transfer to slow cooker.
2. Fry the chopped bacon/pancetta until cooked through and transfer to slow cooker also.
3. Chop onions & garlic and add to slow cooker with mushrooms and bay leaves then season with salt & pepper.
4. Make up a stock with a beef stock cube in half a mug of hot water and pour over the meat with the red wine.
5. Leave for 6-8 hours and add a little more plain flour to thicken the sauce if needed. I will sometimes take off the lid of the slow cooker when I get home to allow some of the extra liquid to evaporate.
6. Remember to remove the bayleaves before serving.