beef casserole/stew

hi all ..
attempted a beef casserole/stew yesterday ....
went for the slow cook option ...roughly three and a half
hours as i have not seen too many good reports for this type of meal on here !!!
just cooking for myself and the wife but the principle is the same for more people !!!

ok so basic ingredients, half pound beef , diced.
one biggish carrot, half a cooking onion,peeled and sliced.

500ml water in a casserole/pyrex dish, add the meat and veg
salt and pepper to taste....pop in the HO at 150c for an hour

casserole dish looked a little too close to the element for me
on the low rack ,so used the extender .
did not preheat just switched on and left it to run .

first hour up....remove lid, quick stir...back on for another hour...second hour up ....same again quick stir ,on for another hour....
third hour up,test the carrots and meat for tenderness...
still a little hard/tough , so upped the temperature to 175c and added two desert spoons of gravy granules,gave it a good stir to dissolve them and set the timer for a further
30 mins.
peeled 4 medium potatoes and cooked them on the hob
to make mashed potatoe
dished up in a deep plate ....beautifully cooked and delicious ...

daxian wrote:hi all ..
attempted a beef casserole/stew yesterday ....
went for the slow cook option  

Now I need to buy a Pyrex casserole dish that will fit a 12L- I like stews althoigh I'd just shove the peeled spuds in at the beginning

got mine @ wilcos set of three for a tenner....
all fit perfect....they do them seperate as well ,but the size i wanted was £7.50 ,so the set was a bargain !!!  

daxian wrote:got mine @ wilcos set of three for a tenner....
all fit perfect....they do them seperate as well ,but the size i wanted was £7.50 ,so the set was a bargain !!!  

Thanks Daxian- I happen to be near a large branch of Wilco's tomorrow so I'll see if they have them

Thanks again Daxian- alas my local Wilco's was sold out but they're getting them back in so I'll pick them up next week

Arranged to meet some friends in Stratford today and got there a bit early do had a quick look in Wilkinson's and am now thanks to Daxian's tip the proud owner of 3 casserole dishes for a tenner- I did think maybe I only needed the big one, which was £7.50 then I figured there were reasons to use the smaller ones so I might as well get the lot while I could and I'm already using the smaller one for a small portion of roast potatoes

hi LesleyM ...
glad you managed to find some....
made a lovely steak pie in the small one this weekend
only tinned steak and a bit of flakey pastry ....but really enjoyed it with tinned baby potatoes and carrots !!!!
yummmy !!!!