Slow cooked beef and pumpkin stew

Hi friends!

I recently had a dear friend over and wanted to cook something hearty yet healthy (yes, because it is summer and feels like a water-logged winter). I also didn’t want to spend too much time focusing on cooking, I wanted to spend quality time with my friend who I hadn’t seen in a whopping 8 years. I had a look at a couple of recipes on good ‘ol Jamie Oliver’s site, and looked for ingredients in my fridge and this is what I came up with. We ate this with sadza, and it just turned out to be amazing, even my toddler gobbled it up. The butter nut pumpkin adds a touch of Southern Africa to this dish, don’t you think? So this is what I pulled together, never made before, but recorded so that I can make it again and share with my friends.

3 fresh or dried bay leaves
500g diced stewing beef
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 medium onions
1/2 butter nut squash
6 baby potatoes, halved
olive oil
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Peel and roughly chop the onion. Peel and roughly chop the butter nut and chop the potatoes (no need to peel if baby). Put a casserole dish on a medium heat (I used one of my stainless steel saucepans… well…..). Put all the vegetables and the bay leaves into the pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and fry for 10 minutes. Add the meat and flour. Pour in the tinned tomatoes and stock. Stir well, then season with a teaspoon of sea salt (less if using table salt) and a freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, put the lid on and cook in an oven for 3 hours (alternatively simmer slowly on the stove). Remove the lid for the final half hour of simmering (or if you can’t wait like my impatient self, just go for it!!!!!!!) Check seasoning before serving with sadza (polenta), pasta or just by itself.

Also stay tuned for the video coming soon to http://www.youtube.com/user/Myburntorange/videos