jools’s favourite beef stew
main courses
Jools goes mad for this stew in the colder months of the year, and the kids love it too. It’s a straightforward beef stew to which all sorts of root veg can be added. I really like making it with squash and Jerusalem artichokes, which partly cook into the sauce, making it really sumptuous with an unusual and wonderful flavour.
The great thing about this stew is that it gets put together very quickly, and this is partly to do with the fact that no time is spent browning the meat. Even though this goes against all my training, I experimented with two batches of meat – I browned one and put the other straight into the pot. The latter turned out to be the sweeter and cleaner-tasting, so I’ve stopped browning the meat for most of my stews these days.
Preheat the oven to 160ºC/300ºF/gas 2. Put a little oil and your knob of butter into an appropriately sized pot or casserole pan. Add your onion and all the sage leaves and fry for 3 or 4 minutes. Toss the meat in a little seasoned flour, then add it to the pan with all the vegetables, the tomato purée, wine and stock, and gently stir together. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper and just a little salt. Bring to the boil, place a lid on top, then cook in the preheated oven until the meat is tender. Sometimes this takes 3 hours, sometimes 4 – it depends on what cut of meat you’re using and how fresh it is. The only way to test is to mash up a piece of meat and if it falls apart easily it’s ready. Once it’s cooked, you can turn the oven down to about 110°C/225°F/gas ¼ and just hold it there until you’re ready to eat.
The best way to serve this is by ladling big spoonfuls into bowls, accompanied by a glass of French red wine and some really fresh, warmed bread. Mix the lemon zest, chopped rosemary and garlic together and sprinkle over the stew before eating. Just the smallest amount will make a world of difference – as soon as it hits the hot stew it will release an amazing fragrance.

• from
Jamie's Dinners
ingredients
• olive oil
• a knob of butter
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• a handful of fresh sage leaves
• 800g/1¾lb stewing steak or beef skirt, cut into 5cm/2 inch pieces
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• flour, to dust
• 2 parsnips, peeled and quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and halved
• ½ a butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly diced
• optional: a handful of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and halved
• 500g/1lb 2oz small potatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• ½ a bottle of red wine
• 285ml/½ pint beef or vegetable stock
• zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
• a handful of rosemary, leaves picked
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
Keep up the good work
Cheers from Canada
thanks
Good luck. Carlos.
Top tucker, nice one Jamie
been told i must make it again this week
a hit alround in my house
Eating this infront of the fire later with snow outside, you don't get much better than that!!!
mIKe
My favourite bit at sprinkling the lemon zest and garlic on at the end. This recipie is imprinted on my brain i've made it so many times....!
1. I'd still fry beef a bit before stewing, it adds more "meaty" flavor to the dish, IMHO.
2. I'd throw in a bit of garlic, maybe a clove or two.
3. Playing with aromatic herbs -- replacing sage with thyme or rosemary, maybe even a mixture of 2-3 herbs can also further enhance the flavor.
Just about to go out now and get more ingredients for dinner :)
Thanks fella
Verdict: STUNNING!
Made it this afternoon for the wife, kids and the in-laws who were coming for tea.
a big hit with all - it was delicious!
Top recipe that's a crowd pleaser. Pass this one on.
I woke up thinking of stew... only problem is that I don't have an oven right now.
Couldn't I just let this simmer on the stove in my casserole pan for a couple of hours?
We both loved it, really really tasty winter warmer, and worth the 3 hour wait, i do think you need to give it 3 hours of slow cooking to really release all those wonderfull flavours, i fell in love with sage that night, what a fab herb !!!
I did add herb dumpling which was fab, i will pass this on,its too good to keep to myself.easy peasy dinner, thank you for sharing it.
jo
How about you come to me for dinner and I'll cook you something very, very, special. No charge! just good grub and lots of laughter. The kids and the boss would love to see how you could fit into our kitchen, its tiny, but hey! its not the size its the quality. Proper 'Geordie' food.
I made this last night and it was FAB! My hubby and kids are such a nightmare -my son doesn't like veg in any kind of sauce, my daughter doesn't like food/mealtime in general and my hubby only likes Asparagus as a veg. Last night they ate this all up without any kind of drama and no complaints! An absolute miracle!
I didn't add the garlic or the lemon at the end as I didn't want to push my luck and it was still tasty.
I ended up cooking it for 5 hours, freezing it and reheating/cooking for another 4 and it it was superb. But only when the meat and veg and evaporation had taken away all the liquid.
The flavour then really was gorgeous, but had I eaten it after the 4 hours I would not have cooked it again.
I'm from Germany and I saw you on ZDF's TV-Programm "Wetten, dass..."
I think your recipes are really great!
I am baffled by the comments though - some seem to be missing. Surely they haven't been censored? ;-)
Delicious.
Its been in the oven for an hour, and it smells pukka, lovely jubbly and any other Jamie-ism you can think of. Wow, its only 3.00 pm and my taste buds are watering already.
I hope my fussy kids will love it as much as I know I'm going to!
cooked this last nite and it was amazing!!! it even looked like it does in the picture!!!
not a red wine drinker so dont usually cook with wine but i tried it and enjoyed it!!!
Best Chef ever - wish you lived over here ( NZ )
would love to watch you live -
faye
Thanks
Hope your partner never comes back. Drunk or not no excuse to hit a lady!!!
i'm from açores, Portugal. i realy like to see you on tv.
i´m a mom of 2 and its hard to please all familly on every meal. i'll try some of your recipies
Managed to get 6 portions out of this served with organic crusty bread.
The lemon, rosemary & garlic seasoning just topped the whole dish off MWAH!
After reading all the comments here im just gonna have to give this a go! It looks and sounds yum. It will be my turn to cook on Sunday, (my fella and i cook on alternate nights, it works well) So will cook this for lunch, it can be cooking while we go for a few bevvys then come home to this - heaven - Thankyou yet again Jamie u r a star xx
Kev
i think maybe do one with different meat like lamb or somethink
i will make it agen but less wine and more stock cubes.
faye
Will let you know how it tastes later.
As usual Jamie came up Trumps. I truly commended him for cracking on and delivery passionate, good recipes to us and trying to make the country eat better. Kids need a good start in life and you can’t absorb what you need when you are being slowly destroyed from the inside out. Parents feeding kids burgers through school play ground railings is a disgrace. I hope they are just naive and just don’t know any better as it can be changed rather than them not wanting their kids to do better than they have. If they honestly think that “that type of food never did me any harm”, take a look in the mirror. Run and marathons lately, great at sports? achiever? More likely ran for a bus (at a push on the way to the doctors).
This recipe is great a came out really well as always.
Crack on Jamie, you’re a living legend!
Any red wine of reasonable quality will do.
It is ludicrous to suggest that the comments written here are not genuine; do you honestly think that Jamie even has time for that??
Couldn't get the rosemary, but it was fantastic with parsley lemon and garlic sprinkled over it at the end. Mmmmmmmmmm.... and so easy!
i a little hesitated
whether i should do this.
but i'll give it try.
anyway, do i have to put in any wine or sort of alchols
IMO, wine is just fine for drinking in glass
Thank you Jamie - looking forward to trying lots more of your recipes.
Cheers-
Hungry International Uni Students
the other best thing about it was the quick preparation and popping for a drink while it cooked for three hours. cheers!
Cooking this for my girlfriend tonight. I hope she likes it and a *BIG* glass of red vino to compliment the dish. Thanks buddy.
The kids , me and hubby and grandad loved it. It'll be a regular on our table from now on. Cheers
When I add dumplings I make them quite small (about golf-ball size) and put them in about 20 minutes before the end, but I leave the lid off. If you cook them all the time they will be really chewy, and if you leave the lid on they are sometimes too soggy. Good luck!
PS Someone said this dish is best of all if cooked one day and reheated the next. That aplies to every casserole I've ever tried too - twice-cooked rules!
This stew sounds gorgeous and will try it out this week.
To Kimberlee, cheaper cuts of meat are best cooked long and slow on a low heat, so even 5-6 hours should ensure the meat is falling apart.
I have found it tastes even better if, once cooked, is left to cool in the fridge and then reheated a day or two later, as all the flavours have time to permeate.
Yumm!!
Don't skimp on time, or you'll land up skimping on flavour and texture too.
Happy cooking everyone.
It really take 3 or 4 hours in the oven? Please tell me it's another fast way or what kind of meat did you use. Anyway I'm sure it's worth it.
Ioanna, I see a good idea adding grated ginger.
answering to 'fuz' , try some ginger in order to add this 'picky'sense to this wonderful dish. Although in Greece the weather is still warm ,the recipe (without artichokes)was really GOOD!
I was wondering the same thing, but I cooked it tonight & I would say it is for 4 people. I had 5 and it was a little light. You'll need a big casserole though, as although it reduces down, it's quite full to begin with.
It was yum though.