Julie Goodwin’s Hearty Slow Cooker Beef Stew: A Spanish-Inspired Winter Warmer
When the chill hits and you’re craving something deeply satisfying, a hearty stew is the ultimate comfort food. Renowned Australian cook Julie Goodwin has shared a recipe for a slow cooker beef stew that promises to become a new family favourite, infused with Spanish-inspired flavours and boasting meltingly tender beef. This dish is designed to warm you from the inside out, perfect for sharing on a cold winter’s night.
As Julie Goodwin herself puts it, “Cold winter nights call for meals that warm you from your nose to your toes. Share this hearty pot straight to the table with crusty hot bread and let everyone help themselves to a rich, steaming bowl full of love.” It’s a dish that embodies warmth and generosity, ideal for a relaxed family meal.
The Star Ingredients
This recipe calls for simple, quality ingredients that come together to create a complex and delicious flavour profile. The key to its success lies in the slow cooking process, which tenderises the beef and melds the flavours beautifully.
For the Stew:
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 800g gravy beef (boneless beef shin), cut into 4cm cubes
- 60ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large onions, peeled and quartered
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 3 long green chillies, seeded and chopped
- 1 red capsicum, seeds and pith removed, roughly chopped
- 1 x 400g can crushed tomatoes
- 3 medium Desiree potatoes (approximately 400g), cut into 6 pieces each
- 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 6 pieces each
- 500ml beef stock
For Serving:
- Toasted baguette slices
- Fresh parsley leaves
Step-by-Step to Deliciousness
The beauty of this recipe is its straightforward preparation, with the slow cooker doing most of the hard work.
Prepare the Beef Coating: In a large bowl, combine the plain flour, ground cumin, sweet paprika, salt, and ground white pepper. Thoroughly toss the cubed gravy beef in this seasoned flour mixture, ensuring each piece is well coated.
Sear the Beef: Heat 1 tablespoon of the extra virgin olive oil in a large chef’s pan over medium-high heat. Brown half of the floured beef until it’s golden brown on all sides. It’s important to shake off any excess flour before placing the beef in the hot pan, as too much flour can burn. Once browned, remove the beef from the pan and place it into the bowl of your slow cooker. Repeat this process with another tablespoon of olive oil and the remaining beef.
Create the Flavour Base: Place the quartered onions, peeled garlic cloves, chopped green chillies, chopped red capsicum, and crushed tomatoes into a blender or food processor. Blitz these ingredients until they form a smooth puree.
Next, heat the final tablespoon of olive oil in the same beef pan you used earlier. Add the capsicum puree and cook, stirring continuously, for about 5 minutes, or until it begins to thicken. Stir any leftover spiced flour mixture from the beef coating into this puree.
Assemble and Slow Cook: Add the prepared potatoes and carrots to the slow cooker bowl with the browned beef. Pour the contents of the chef pan (the thickened capsicum puree mixture) over the beef, vegetables, and potatoes. Add the beef stock and stir everything gently to ensure all ingredients are well combined and the beef is submerged in the liquid.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and set it to the HIGH setting for 6 hours. For a thicker sauce, remove the lid after the first 2 hours of cooking. Keep an eye on the stew from around the 5-hour mark. The stew is ready when the gravy beef is exceptionally tender, the sauce has thickened beautifully, and the carrots can be easily cut with a spoon.
Serve and Enjoy: Once cooked to perfection, serve the rich, aromatic beef stew. It’s best presented straight from the slow cooker, allowing everyone to serve themselves.
Serving Suggestions
Julie Goodwin recommends serving your slow cooker beef stew with warm, toasted baguette slices. A scattering of fresh parsley leaves adds a touch of colour and freshness. For an extra touch of flavour, you can lightly drizzle the toasted baguette slices with olive oil before serving.
Understanding Gravy Beef
For those unfamiliar, gravy beef is a specific cut of boneless stewing beef sourced from the shin. Its unique characteristic is its high connective tissue content. When slow-cooked, these tissues break down, releasing gelatin into the cooking liquid, which imparts a wonderful richness and glossy texture to stocks, soups, and casseroles – making it the ideal cut for this hearty stew.
More Delicious Julie Goodwin Slow Cooker Creations
Julie Goodwin is a master of creating comforting and flavourful dishes, especially for the slow cooker. If you enjoyed this beef stew, you might also like to explore her other fantastic slow cooker recipes:
- Julie Goodwin’s Slow Cooker Lamb Chops: Tender lamb chops infused with flavour.
- Julie Goodwin’s 6-Hour Bolognese Sauce: A rich and deeply flavourful bolognese that benefits from slow cooking.
- Julie Goodwin’s Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks: Fall-off-the-bone tender lamb shanks.
- Julie Goodwin’s Slow Cooker Beef & Mushrooms: A classic combination elevated by slow cooking.
- Julie Goodwin’s Coq au Vin: A French classic made easy and delicious in the slow cooker.
