Hearty beef and mushroom stew

Cook up this hearty beef and mushroom stew for a delicious meal.

If you usually go to the gym at the end of the day, the last thing you need is to spend hours in the kitchen when you get home. This gorgeous slow cooker hearty beef and mushroom stew provides you with a warming, tasty classic that’ll be ready for when you walk through the door after a long day. Lean beef is a fantastic source of protein. According to SELFNutritionData, there are 29g of protein in a 100g serving of 5 per cent lean beef – all for just 193 calories. Mushrooms are also underrated from a nutritional point of view. As well as being full of vitamin D and B-vitamins, mushrooms are a strong source of selenium, which is thought to help protect our cells from damage that can cause chronic disease.

Ingredients (serves 2 to 4)

1tbsp olive oil

500g lean diced beef

350g button mushrooms (you can use chestnut mushrooms if you want to be fancy!)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 large onion, chopped

2 bay leaves

1tsp dried oregano

1tsp dried parsley

2tsp fresh thyme

1 beef stock cube

1 swede, chopped into large chunks

200ml cold water

1tsp salt

Cracked black pepper to taste

A sprig of fresh tarragon to garnish

Cornflour to thicken if needed

Method

The night before:

Add your oil to a pan, before browning off your beef on a high heat. This should take five minutes. Don’t overcook the meat – you only need to sear it.

Brown off your mushrooms and cook your garlic in the same pan.

Add everything except the tarragon and cornflour into your slow cooker and place it in the fridge overnight.

The morning (just before you leave the house):

Put your pot into the slow cooker and stir the contents.

Place it on a low heat and leave for at least six hours.

When you arrive later that evening, add some cornflour to your mixture if it requires thickening (mushrooms contain a lot of water, so you might find that the stew is a little on the runny side).

Add you tarragon as a garnish and ladle your scrumptious stew into a bowl.

Recipe courtesy of DW Fitness Clubs