Comfort food: Beef casserole

(serves 8-10)

Dishes like this definitely make me love slow cooking - the soft tender chunks of beef in the midst of a flavoursome tomato-based sauce that becomes more infused and rich the longer you leave it in the oven. This is my first and only casserole experience, and it was at the EPIC youth camp when we as a team made 6x this amount! I have to say it's not really the kind of dish to make when you get home from work though as you'll end up starving before you get to it! But definitely an option for the slow-cooker to set off in the morning and will be perfect when you get home!

Prep time: 30 min
Cooking time: 2hrs 30min

Ingredients
1kg beef chuck steak
1/3 C plain flour
3 tsp paprika
1 tsp herb and garlic salt
2 tsp cajun
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
100g bacon
3 garlic cloves
1.5 onions
1 celery
3 carrots
4 tomatoes (or 400g tinned tomatoes)
1 sweet potato
5 bay leaves
750mL beef stock
1 sachet tomato paste
4 T Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp salt
grind of black pepper

Method
1. Cut the beef into 2cm x 2cm chunks. Prepare a large plastic bag with the flour, paprika, herb and garlic salt, cajun, cinnamon and salt. Taste to liking, then add in the beef and coat. Marinade for at least 1hr, or preferably overnight.
2. Heat a pan to medium heat with 1-2 T oil, then sear the beef on the outside. Brown the bacon.

3. Caramelise the onions in a frypan on low heat for 10-15min. 
NB. This is optional but adds a bit of natural sweetness to the casserole.
4. Roughly chop the garlic, onion, celery, carrot, tomatoes and sweet potato and place in a deep roasting tray. Add in the beef and bacon
5. Prepare the beef stock in a jug/bowl, mix in the tomato paste, worcestershire, salt and pepper. Pour the stock mixture into the roasting tray. Add in the bay leaves then cover with foil and roast for 2 hours at 180˚C or until the meat is soft. Remove the foil and roast for 30 minutes to reduce the sauce.

6. Serve with roasted potatoes, mash, or rice!