Weather's getting colder, it gets dark earlier and earlier and it's definitely time for warming winter stews.
My poor little slow cooker can spend the entire summer in the cupboard, but it gets proper use through the winter. This recipe could be done in the oven at a low temperature, or in a big pan on a low heat on the hob, but a slow cooker really is ideal. I wasn't at work so there was time to get it done, and the Manicure Maniac wasn't sure exactly when she'd get home. Slow cooker food won't come to any harm if it's delayed, so she came home to a flat full of delicious cooking smells and food ready to be served.
When I lived alone I used one of those plug-in timers to much the same effect - when you live alone and it's cold outside it's a real comfort to come home to cooking smells. If you're trying this and you're in a tearing hurry in the morning (I'm crap at getting up at the mornings) you can omit the frying stage and just put all the ingredients in the slow cooker insert with the timer set to come on about six hours before you want to eat.
Peel and chop an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic, and sweat them gently in olive oil and a knob of butter until they go translucent.
Transfer them to the slow-cooker insert, coat the pieces of beef in flour that's been seasoned with salt and pepper, turn up the heat on the frying pan, and fry until they're browned on all sides. You'll want to do this in batches - give each piece of beef plenty of space in the pan. There's no hurry, after all. Transfer each batch to the slow-cooker insert when it's nicely browned. We're not cooking the meat through here - that's for the slow-cooker to do - but it will taste better if it's had a bit of direct heat from the frying pan first.
The oxtail was a bit of an afterthought. I bought the meat from the meat counter at Waitrose, and when I saw the oxtail pieces lined up next to the braising steak I decided on a whim to chuck one in as well. I had an idea that it might be nice to have two different cuts of meat in there, and I had a feeling the marrow from the bone would add a bit more texture and flavour to the cooking liquor. I made a comment to the lady on the counter about how it was definitely stewing weather, and she said that was clear from what was selling - fish does well in the summer but now's the time for the meat counter to shift.
Anyway, give the piece of oxtail a few minutes in the pan to brown on all sides, and chuck that into the slow-cooker insert as well.
Chop the parsnip and carrot into bite-sized pieces and fry them for a few minutes too. Transfer to the slow-cooker.
We're nearly ready to go. Add 100g pearl barley, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, some bay leaves, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, half a pint of beer (you're clearly not at work today, so drink the rest even though it's not long past midday) and enough beef stock to cover everything.
Stir it all up with a wooden spoon, fire up the slow-cooker, and leave it on Low for at least four hours. Six would be ideal.
About half an hour before you want to eat, slice up some mushrooms (I used portobellos today because Waitrose were out of the regular cup ones) and add them to the slow-cooker.
Make dumplings according to the instructions on a pack of Atora suet and pop them in. I tend to add some herbs to the dumpling mix, too. They'll need about half an hour in a slow-cooker, a bit less if you're using the oven or hob.
This is a good point to fish out the piece of oxtail, strip the meat off, add the meat back to the pot and discard the bone.
A slow-cooker is a really useful tool for the economy-minded home cook, and they're not expensive to buy - mine was about £15 in Argos, and Robert Dyas do cheap ones too. There's absolutely no point splashing out lots of money on an expensive one - they all do exactly the same job, so your only consideration is size. This is a lesson I learned the hard way - I used to have a posh brushed-steel effect one, but it died at a moment when I was short of cash, so I replaced it with the cheap one I still have today which has now soldiered on for about five years.
If you don't have one, you can still cook this by putting everything into an oven-proof dish with a lid and cooking it as low as your oven will go for about four hours. Don't let it go on for too long though - cooking in an oven will dry food out much more than a slow-cooker, even with a lid on. Or, you can use a big pan on the hob, ideally a heavy one like the blue Le Creuset that's lurking in the back of some of today's photos. Leave the hob as low as it will go, and it'll probably be done in 90 minutes.
The slow-cooker does have a couple of advantages over these methods though. One is the utility bill: an oven or hob uses much more power (or gas) than a slow-cooker, which burns about as much electricity as an incandescent light bulb. I do have an environmental conscience, but that really appeals to the penny-pincher in me.
The biggest one is the convenience though. On a night like tonight, when my girlfriend had some things to do after work and didn't know when she'd be home, we just served it up when she got here. If your brood are all coming and going at different times, they can even get a serving at different times - just give each one a helping as they arrive and leave the rest purtling away gently on Low. It won't come to any harm. That approach won't work with the oven or hob though - what's left would just boil dry.
Ideally, you'd serve this with a nice crusty roll but expedience prevails: I had a loaf of white sliced in, so a slice of white it was.
Financial verdict
500g Aberdeen Angus Diced Braising Steak - £5.50
One piece of oxtail - £1.50
A large carrot - 14p
A parsnip - 50p
Some portobello mushrooms - 60p
Half a pint of beer - £1
100g pearl barley - 10p
Flour, suet, beef stock cube, herbs, garlic - pennies, from store
This served two with four more portions heading for tupperwares in the freezer, so it's a miserly £1.56 per portion.
Taste verdict
Rich and warming, just the thing for a day where you have to draw the curtains at 5 o'clock. It was worth adding the oxtail piece - we could tell the different pieces of meat apart and it gave a lovely extra beefy element.
The Skinny
Do the necessary with an onion and a clove of garlic. Sweat them in olive oil, and a knob of butter if you're feeling decadent.
Coat the diced beef in seasoned flour and fry until browned on all sides.
Chop the carrot and parsnip into bite sized pieces and fry them for a few minutes until browned on all sides.
Likewise with the oxtail.
Do the frying in batches, transferring to the slow-cooker insert when done.
Add half a pint of beer and enough beef stock to cover everything, along with sage, thyme, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and 100g pearl barley.
Cook on Low for at least four hours. Six is good.
About half an hour before you intend to eat, add sliced mushrooms to the stew and make dumplings according to the packet instructions. Place the dumplings on top of the stew. This is a good moment to deal with the piece of oxtail, too.
WeightWatchers ProPoints
11
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