Beef stew and swede mash recipe

Before posting more poppy seed recipes I wanted to have a go at making a brown stew as my mother had given us some stewing beef months ago when we first moved into the new house, and it's just been sat in the freezer ever since. So last Sunday I decided to give it a go once and for all. I don't actually cook with beef very often so was a little anxious about how it would turn out, especially as my mother's way of cooking looks distinctly like guesswork to me (albeit based on 40 years more cooking experience than I've got). I don't think I've ever seen her actually weigh ingredients, so it's quite amazing that she is able to turn out such tasty food.

Anyway, her recipe being far too vague for me to follow, I looked up brown stew on the BBC food website and got a few recipes, that were sort of what I was looking for, but not quite there. In the end I decided to mix up two recipes, and see how it turned out (it turns out I cook like my mother after all. Hmm..). One recipe was from the Hairy Bikers (Mum's Know Best) and was a Beef and Honey stew, and the other I found online for a traditional beef stew recipe. As the latter was in American measurements I didn't use all the ingredients, but rather just added a few to the Hairy Bikers recipe and based my attempt mostly on that method.

So here's my recipe for Beef Stew with Swede Mash (NB. The swede mash arose as I mistakenly thought I had a turnip to add to the stew and it was only when I was trying to peel and chop the bugger that I realised it was a swede!). This made enough mash and stew for two large portions, with a bit of stew left over for seconds, and trust me it didn't last long! If you try this, let me know how it turns out and any comments would be very welcome!

 Ingredients
30g plain flour (plus 1 tbsp which I added later on)
450g stewing steak, cubed
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 parsnips, peeled, and roughly chopped (I only had a couple in the house but would have liked more)
1 tbsp honey
550ml vegetable stock (I didn't have beef stock)
1-2 small glasses red wine
1 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to season

For the mash
1 swede, peeled and roughly chopped (swedes are actually quite hard to chop I discovered so be careful you don't cut off a finger!)
50g butter
salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Use kitchen  towel to pat dry the steak pieces (if they've recently been defrosted as mine were the flour makes them sticky if they're too moist). Place the 30g flour in a freezer bag, add the meat and shake till well coated.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed pan and brown the meat on all sides. (Do this in batches as adding too much meat at one time makes the meat seam instead of brown). Once browned remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place aside.

3. Add the chopped onions to the same pan you used to brown the beef and saute for about 5 mins until softened (you may want to add a bit more oil for this stage). Reduce the heat and add an extra tbsp or 2 of flour to the onions and cook for two minutes, stirring often.

4. Add one glass of wine to the pan to de-glaze, scraping any brown bits that were stuck to the bottom. Click on the link to see the BBC Food technique guide for de-glazing if you're not sure how to do this. The flour will start to thicken the wine as it simmers.

5. Simmer the wine for about 5mins, then add the vegetable stock, carrots, parsnips, honey, thyme and the beef. Bring back to a gentle simmer, cover and cook on very low heat for about an hour and a half (this is all the time I had, but the longer you can cook it, the softer the meat gets. Hairy Bikers recommended at least 2 hours for their recipe, but obviously you'll need to add the veg later on in the cooking process if you don't want to end up with a load of mush).

Heat-wise, even on my lowest gas level it was cooking too vigorously and was starting to stick on the bottom, so I had to move the pan to a much smaller ring to keep the heat low and bubbles small.

Whilst tasting my stew I felt it didn't have enough flavour, so during the simmering process I added the tomato puree and the extra glass of wine, and I think this really made a big difference to the colour and flavour but this is up to you really.

6. About half an hour before taking the stew off the heat you'll want to start the swede mash. Place the chopped swede in a pan of cold water and sprinkle in about 1 tsp of salt.

7. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until tender.

8. Drain the swede and then use a potato masher to mash it up, adding knobs of butter until you get the taste and consistency you prefer. Season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to a serving bowl.

9. At this point the stew should be about ready, but if not cover the mash with cling film and pop in the oven at about 100c to keep it warm.

10. Season the stew with salt and pepper to taste and then serve with the swede mash on the side.