Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Herby Horseradish dumplings

This beef stew is a hearty and comforting winter warmer. For best results, I like to make the stew in a slow cooker at least the day before, because you can leave it to slowly bubble away, plus the flavour matures and tastes even better after it’s had a day to meld.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 tbsp light olive oil

1kg/2lb 4oz braising beef, cut into cubes

250g shallots

2 carrots, sliced into chunks

200g mushrooms, sliced into chunks or left whole if small

50g plain flour

500ml  ale

150ml stock

2–3 tbsp Manfood ale chutney

3 bay leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dumplings

175g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

75g shredded suet

4 tbsp creamed horseradish

2 tbsp chopped parsley

Method

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan over a high heat. Add the beef in batches and brown all over, adding more oil if needed. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon and set aside. Deglaze the saucepan with the beer, making sure you scrape the bottom to release the crispy bits and browning.

Meanwhile, put the flour in a bowl, whisk in a little of the ale to make a smooth paste, then whisk in the rest of the ale.

Add the beef to your slow cooker, then pour in the ale mixture, stock and ale chutney. Add in your bay, shallots and carrots, then cover and leave to cook on high for 4 hours. After this time, your meat should be tender, and your sauce thickened. At this point, you can simply tip your stew into a container, allow to cool, then pop in the fridge till you want to serve it.

The next day, pour your stew into a deep oven proof casserole. Preheat the oven to 200C. Slowly bring to a simmer. If the sauce is a little too thin for your liking, simply keep simmering until thick. Conversely, if the sauce is too thick, you can add in a little water (or beer) to get it to the right thickness.

Prepare your dumplings: put the flour and suet in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Gradually add 150ml water and stir to make a soft, sticky dough. Tip onto a floured work surface and gently knead until smooth.

Flour a sheet of non-stick baking paper. Put the dough on top and roll out to about 15x25cm. Spread over the horseradish cream and scatter with parsley. Roll up the dough, from the long side, to make a Swiss roll shape. Chill for 45 minutes, then slice into eight pieces.

Top the casserole with the dumplings. Return to the oven, for 25 minutes, or until the dumplings are golden and puffed up. Serve the beef and ale stew piping hot.