Switch up your Sunday lunch with a slow cooker

Sunday Switch-Up

Usually on a Sunday we settle for a roast dinner, potatoes, carrots, yorkshires etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good roast. But every single Sunday? I’m not so keen.

This weekend I decided to switch it up and treat the family to a new recipe, I sat down at my laptop and got searching. That’s when I found a recipe for ‘slow-cooker beef stew’ on the BBC Goodfood website, it had 265 five-star ratings. I needed to try it. I quickly encountered a problem - we don’t own a slow cooker.

I could’ve gone and purchased one but I was not sure how often we would use it so I went onto the RentMy website and started searching. Within minutes I had found a slow cooker being rented out near me. The site was easy to navigate and once the deal was done, I collected the slow cooker and was ready to cook a beautiful beef stew.

The Recipe

  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 3 carrots, halved and cut into chunks
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ½ pack thyme
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 beef stock cubes or stock pots
  • 900g beef for braising such as skirt, buy a whole piece and cut it yourself for bigger chunks or buy ready-diced
  • 2 tsp cornflour (optional)
  • ½ small bunch parsley, chopped

STEP 1

Fry the onion and celery in 1 tbsp oil over a low heat until they start to soften – about 5 mins. Add the carrots, bay and thyme, fry for 2 mins, stir in the purée and Worcestershire sauce, add 600ml boiling water, stir and tip everything into a slow cooker. Crumble over the stock cubes or add the stock pots and stir, then season with pepper (don’t add salt as the stock may be salty).

STEP 2

Clean out the frying pan and fry the beef in the remaining oil in batches until it is well browned, then tip each batch into the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hrs, or on high for 4 hrs.

STEP 3

If you want to thicken the gravy, mix the cornflour with a splash of cold water to make a paste, then stir in 2 tbsp of the liquid from the slow cooker. Tip back into the slow cooker, stir and cook for a further 30 mins on high. Stir in the parsley and season again to taste. Serve with mash, if you like. Leave to cool before freezing.

Source: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-beef-stew

The slow cooker made the whole experience so much easier! I prepared the food in the morning, popped it all in the slow cooker, then I was able to spend quality time with my family for the rest of the day. We went for a long dog walk in the afternoon: I enjoyed the beautiful views around me, paired with the peace of mind that there was no need to stress about getting home to cook dinner as it was already simmering away at home. We then came home and played Bananagrams – a family favourite!

Without a doubt, this was the tastiest meal I had ever cooked. The beef was so tender and the gravy was so flavoursome. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water and I will definitely be making it again!

The slow cooker cost just £5 to rent for the day and it was incredibly worth it! I will definitely be using RentMy again and this recipe is going straight into my cookbook for future use.

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