There’s nothing better than a heart stew on a cold winters night, and this one will have you licking your lips for days.

What you’ll need: 

Oyster blade steak
Carrots
Potatoes
Onion
Mushroom
Tinned tomatoes
Red wine
Gravy powder
Beef stock
Flour
Chilli
Salt and pepper
Herbs of choice

How it’s done:

1. Start by peeling your vegetables and chopping them into bit size chunks. Ensuring all the veggies are approximately the same size will ensure they cook at a similar rate.

2. Dice your beef up, allowing for the fact that the chunks will usually shrink quite a lot.

3. Coat the beef in flour and season with salt and pepper. This can be done by simply putting the flour and meat into a plastic bag and mixing it around.

4. Brown the meat over high heat in a non-stick plan. Using a bit of red wine will help loosen any flour stuck on the pan. Don’t worry about cooking it all the way through.

5. Reduce the heat to medium, then add your vegetables (except for mushrooms) to the pot with a bit of olive oil and cook for five minutes or until the onion softens nicely.

6. Add the diced tomatoes, beef stock and spices and let it come to a gentle simmer.

7. The trick to ensuring your meat goes tender is to cook it low and slow. So let it gently simmer for a few hours if you can.

8. Leaving it cook with the lid off will allow your casseroles liquid to thicken up. If it’s too running by the time you want to serve it up, add a few tablespoons of gravy powder into the mix until the desired consistency is achieved.

9. Serve with some crusty bread!