We were supposed to have roast beef recently, but when the day came around I didn't really feel like cooking, so we had a much simpler meal. That, though, left us with a joint of beef that needed using during the week
I decided to slow cook it. I did all the preparation one evening, kept it in the fridge overnight and then turned the slow cooker on at around lunch time.
This can be served with things like boiled potatoes, roast potatoes or even air-fried new potatoes.
This recipe takes a BBC Good Food recipe and adjusts timings and proportions to serve more (with air-fried potatoes, we found it served 4) and achieve a more moist and tender joint.
Cooking Time
| Prep | Cooking | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 20 mins | 330 mins | 350 mins |
Ingredients
- 3 tsp cooking oil
- 2kg beef joint
- 125ml white wine
- 3 carrots
- 2 onions
- 2 sticks rosemary
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 garlic cloves
- 500ml beef stock
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
Method
- Peel the onions and cut into quarters
- Peel the garlic cloves but leave them whole
- Pick and chop the rosemary
- Slice the bay leaves in half
- Peel and chop the carrots into slices
- Put all of the above into the bottom of the slow cooker
- Put the oil into a large frying pan and place over a high heat
- Put the beef into the pan
- Roll around so that all sides get seared/browned
- Remove from the heat
- Place the beef on top of the veg in the slow cooker
- Pour the wine into the pan and use a spatula to scrape any stuck on beef into the wine
- Empty the pan over the top of the beef
- Mix up the stock and then pour over the beef
- Put the slow cooker lid on
- Put in the fridge if it's for the next day (if so, let it sit on the side for a few hours the next morning)
- Cook for 5.5 hours on low
- Move the beef to a plate and cover in foil so that it can rest for 20 minutes
- Whilst the beef is resting, place a colander into a bowl
- Empty the stock pot through the colander to seperate the veg from the juice
- Put the veg back into the slow cooker
- Put the cornflour into a small bowl
- Add around 4 tbsp of the juices to the cornflour, stirring until it becomes a liquidy paste
- Pour back into the juices and stir - the juices should change colour
- Stir in the tomato puree
- Pour back into the slow cooker and switch to a high heat to start thickening
- Before carving the beef, check the thickness of the gravy - if it isn't yet thick enough, pour through the colander again, this time into a saucepan over low heat (stir regularly)
- Fish the garlic cloves out to avoid surprises, carve and serve.