It’s hard to come up with new and different slow cooker beef recipes. I’m part of a slow cooker Facebook group with over 13,000 members, so the recipes are diverse, different and sometimes downright odd. But there’s never a dull moment or lack of inspiration, if you’re a slow cooking fan, that is. And that I am.

Whats that, you say? Another dish that features red wine? You may think I’m a little taken with the red grape beverage, and that I only have eyes for red wine, that I can’t cook without it. Not at all true. Sometimes I cook with white. Who doesn’t love a beef Bourguignon, unctuous melt in the mouth beef, deep rich red wine gravy, salty speck, caramelised mushrooms, smooth buttery mashed potatoes…bring it on.

Ingredients

• 750gms chuck steak
• 300gms field mushrooms
• a chunk of speck, or a couple of bacon rashers
• 1c red wine
• 1c tomato passata
• 2tsp Dijon mustard
• fresh herbs, I picked rosemary, thyme, oregano and a bay leaf from my herb patch
• 1 onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• a sweet potato
• I added some black garlic and onion jam as it was in my fridge

Chop everything up. My slow cooker has a searing insert so I can brown stuff on the stovetop and then reduce the juices later for thick delicious gravies. I brown the onions and garlics, then add the beef and brown it too.

Into the pot goes all the other ingredients, bar the speck and mushies, I did these at the end. Cook on low for 7 – 8 hours, or until your beef is tender and comes apart with a spoon.

Cut up the speck into small batons and fry til lightly brown, add the sliced mushrooms and fry til the speck is crispy and the mushrooms caramelised.

I took the sweet potato out of the stew about 5 hours in so it didn’t turn to mush, and put it back into the stew when I was reducing the gravy on the stovetop for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Served with creamy mashed potatoes, crispy green beans and a big fat glass of cab sav.

This made enough for the 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 leftover lunches. So, only just enough. How many slow cooker meals is one allowed to cook in one week?