Feeding a new family. This slow cooker beef and pancetta stew with cavolo nero, was a low fuss meal I put together for my sister and her husband, shortly after my new niece arrived! 

Slow Cooker Beef & Pancetta Stew with Cavolo Nero

A few weeks ago, amidst cold January snow storms we welcomed to the world my first gorgeous little niece.  A week later armed with some cute babygrows and a cuddly elephant I rather excitedly trekked off to see her for another cwtch (a Welsh cuddle).  Since I have absolutely no parental skills to offer, I thought that the best thing I could do for my big Sis & Husband was to make use of my cooking skills and provide them with a freshly cooked hearty & nourishing meal, a homemade ready meal for two in a tupperware box.

The idea for this stew started with a combination of needing to use up some cavolo nero and the beef I had in the freezer from a recent farmers market haul.

I adapted this recipe to be cooked in my slow cooker instead of stove topped. I chose to brown off the meat and sauté the veg first to develop the flavour a little more. Instead of using red wine as in the original recipe I used homemade beef stock. I also lowered the volume of liquid in the recipe as cooking in the slow-cooker means less liquid is required.

I absolutely love the idea of tossing the blanched cavolo nero in garlic at the last minute, it adds a great strong garlicky edge to the dish which is somewhat different to the garlicky hue from the stewed veg.

If you are preparing this dish with intended left-overs as I was, it is fine to add in the cavolo nero as above, then portion up into tupperware for quick ‘ready meal’ serving ease.  Alternatively you could opt to store up in tupperware, freeze and then add fresh cavolo nero when served. This is the type of dish that definitely tastes better the next day.

Slow Cooker Beef & Pancetta Stew with Cavolo Nero

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

6 hours

Total time

6 hours 10 mins

 

This slow cooker beef and pancetta stew with cavolo nero, was a low fuss meal I put together for my sister and her husband, shortly after my new niece arrived!

Author: Ceri Jones

Recipe type: Dinner

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Olive Oil
• 1kg diced stewing beef (I used chuck)
• Seasoning
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 4 stick of celery, diced
• 100g of pancetta, cubed (I bought mine already cubed)
• 4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 fresh bay leaves (remember to tear slightly before adding to dish to release some flavour)
• Handful of fresh rosemary sprigs
• 4 tomatoes, de-seeded and diced
• 300mls hot beef stock
• 1 bunch of cavolo nero
• Extra-virgin olive oil and an extra garlic clove, minced

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large pan, and brown the meat in batches until it takes on some colour. Remove and place in the slow cooker.
2. Sauté the onion, carrots, celery & pancetta in the same pan (don't wash out) until they soften slightly. Then add the whole garlic, bay leaves, rosemary & tomatoes. Cook out for a few mins.
3. Pour the veg into the slow cooker and add the hot stock. Give it a good stir and cook on medium for 6 hours (or low for longer, high for less time).
4. When you're just about ready to serve prepare the cavolo nero.
5. Blanch the cavolo nero for 5 minutes, then toss through 2 tablespoons of some olive oil and 2 cloves of minced garlic. Stir through the stew and serve up in bowls.

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