What food could be better for a cold, grim evening than beef stew with dumplings? It’s the sort of food that gives you a cuddle, that doesn’t judge you for wanting to eat it in front of the TV in your pyjamas and odd socks.
Although they take a long time, stews need very little effort – the oven does all of the work. And though dumplings can seem a bit daunting if you haven’t made them before, they always work perfectly and are so worth the little bit of work required.
You can add any other wintery vegetables you like to this stew – swede and parsnip would work well.
This will take 3 hours in total to make, and will serve 4 hungry people.
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Stewing steak – don’t spend lots of money on this! This recipe calls for cheap cuts of steak that can be slow cooked down to delicious tender bites.
- Butter – starting your stew with butter is the best thing you can do for flavour. However, you could use vegetable oil instead.
- Plain flour – to thicken the gravy. Don’t be tempted to switch for any other kind of flour.
- Onion and garlic – this is your flavour base and you will need both of these.
- Carrots, leek, potatoes and mushrooms – these can be changed for other seasonal root vegetables.
- Red wine – optional
- Beef stock – or use 1 pint water and a really good beef stock cube.
- Rosemary and thyme – you could also add a bay leaf
- Lea and Perrins – or any Worcestershire sauce, or you could also use Henderson’s Relish.
- Self-raising flour – for the dumplings, self-raising is needed.
- Beef or vegetable suet – either is fine.
- Parsley – optional.
Top Tips
- Don’t over-brown your steak Don’t be tempted to think you need to cook your steak through at the beginning. Browning the meat is not for cooking – it’s for flavour on the outside. It will get plenty of cooking time in the oven.
- Give it time This cooks low and slow – upping the temperature might make it cook more quickly, but the meat will get tough and the flavour won’t be there.
- Check your dumplings To check your dumplings are cooked, press the top of each one. They should be springy, not soggy. If they aren’t springy yet, you should give them a bit more time.
More ways to cook beef stew and dumplings
Slow cooker
You can cook this in a slow cooker, though I would recommend doing the initial browning in a casserole dish for more flavour, then transferring to your slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours, then when you add the dumplings crank it back up to high for another 40 minutes, or until cooked through.
Oven
Once you have finished adding all of the ingredients on the hob, pop the lid on and put in the oven at 150 degrees C for 4 hours (this method is great particularly if you have a gas hob and want to go out during the cooking time – it means you don’t need to leave the flame unattended). Add the dumplings and cook for another 40 minutes.
Pressure cooker
Using a pressure cooker can reduce the cooking time of the meat to about 50 minutes, but you do lose out on some of the flavour. You will need to transfer to a casserole dish when you add and cook your dumplings.
Beef Stew with Parsley Dumplings
Ingredients
- 450 grams stewing steak cut into bitesize chunks
- 25 grams butter
- 25 grams plain flour
- 1 large onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 carrots
- 1 large leek
- 1 large potato
- 200 grams chestnut mushrooms
- 250 ml red wine
- 1 pint beef stock
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 handful thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon Lea & Perrins sauce
- 200 grams self-raising flour
- 100 grams beef or vegetable suet
- 1 handful fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Season the plain flour with salt and pepper and roll the steak in it, ensuring it is completely covered.
- Melt the butter in a large casserole dish over a medium-high heat and add the steak. Brown lightly and then place in a bowl to one side.
- Chop the onion and garlic and add to the casserole dish. Cook for 2 minutes, then put the steak back in and add the sliced carrots, sliced leek and chopped potato. Pour in the wine and add the mushrooms. Bring to the boil, then add the stock, rosemary, thyme and Lea & Perrins.
- Bring to a simmer, then cover with a lid and place in the oven at 150 degrees.
- For the dumpings, tip the self-raising flour, suet and parsley into a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add cold water a little at a time – you’ll probably need 150-200mls total – until it forms a pliable dough.
- When the stew has been in the oven for 2 hours, take it out (leave the oven on). Form little balls (about 1.5 inches in diameter) with the dough and place evenly spaced on top of the stew. This mixture made 14 dumplings.
- Put the lid back on and return to the oven for another 25 minutes. You won’t fail to enjoy this!
Video
More comfort food recipes:
- Beef and Guinness Stew
- Chicken Casserole with Parsley Dumplings
- The Ultimate Beef Lasagne
- Penne Pastitsio
- Roast Beef Dinner with Yorkshire Puddings
- Classic Baked Mac N Cheese
The comfort food of all comfort food. Perfect for making ahead and freezing, too