A simple slow cooker recipe to make when you have some time to yourself to let it cook and be ready for a relaxing wholesome meal. We use our tasty beef stock here in this recipe.

Ingredients
Olive Oil, for cooking
1 Onion, chopped
3 Celery Sticks, sliced
2 Carrots, halved and sliced
1 punnet Button Mushrooms, cut in halves
2 Bay Leaves
½ pack Fresh Thyme
800g Slow Cook Diced Beef
100ml Hot Water
500ml Carol's Stock Market Beef Stock
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbsp Tomato Purée
Salt & Pepper
2 tsp Cornflour, optional
Small bunch Fresh Parsley, roughly chopped

Serves
4-6

Method
Place a large pan over medium heat. Once hot, drizzle with olive oil.
Add the onion and celery then cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened. About 5 minutes. Transfer cooked onion and celery to the slow cooker pot, along with carrots, mushrooms, bay leaves and thyme.

Return pan to stove and increase heat to medium high with another drizzle of olive oil. Once hot, spread half of the diced beef in the pan. Leave to sear on one side without moving in the pan for 2-3 minutes. Once browned, turn pieces of beef over to sear on the other side. You may need to increase heat to high. Again, sear without moving for 2-3 minutes. Transfer browned meat to the slow cooker, then repeat searing with the remaining beef.

Transfer second batch to the slow cooker, and with pan off the heat, pour in hot water. Use a spatula to scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, then pour the deglazed water into the slow cooker.

In a small jug, stir together beef stock, tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce. Pour this into the slow cooker. Season with 1 tsp salt and a grinding of black pepper, give a big stir to mix everything up.

Place lid on slow cooker and leave to cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 10 hours. Do not remove the lid while cooking. Once cooking time has been completed, stir the stew and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

If you want to thicken the sauce, spoon out a few tablespoons and mix with cornflour to make a smooth paste. Pour this back into the slow cooker and stir well. Replace lid and cook for 30 minutes on high to thicken the gravy.

To serve, remove bay leaves and thyme stalks from the stew. Serve with mashed potato and garnish generously with chopped parsley.