Slow Cooker Beef Stew | Swiss Steak Style

You can use any budget cut of beef for this, shin beef (bone in, just remove bone before serving), flank steak, gravy beef - and if your budget runs to it, cross-cut blade steak is perfect. You need nice looking meat that you can cook and serve whole - think one portion per person.  So you need enough to make a layer of beef in the slow cooker and also enough to to make one piece or serving per person.  Whole servings of beef are great time savers - much less prep required!

Served with roasted potatoes or over pasta with carrot rings and your choice of steamed greens should get you rave reviews and a round of cleaned plates at the end of the meal!  If it's a special occasion you might even treat them to a slice or two of garlic bread each to help mop up the gravy.

If you want to stretch it a bit further, a can of sliced mushrooms in sauce near the end of the cooking time and serve with a dollop of sour cream topped with fresh chopped herbs. (If you know ahead of time that you need to stretch it, before you add the beef, add a layer of potato cut into small cubes.)

Slow Cooker Beef Stew | Swiss Steak Style

1/4 cup Bisto, Gravox (or flour, if using flour also add 2 tsp beef stock powder)
1 Tblsp Italian or Mixed Herbs
1 Tblsp garlic granules or 2 cloves peeled and crushed
freshly ground salt and pepper to taste (I use lots of pepper!)
1/2 cup water (maybe with a little bit of red wine in it!)
4-6 servings of beef (as required, see above)
1 medium onion peeled and finely chopped
440g can crushed tomatoes in juice, tomato puree or similar

• Add the dry ingredients (the first four ingredients) directly into the base of the slow cooker, mix to combine.
• Add the water and give it a quick whisk to combine.
• Add the beef in one layer and top with the onions.
• Pour over the tomatoes, use a fork to 'push the meat around' to gently get the tomato to blend in with the gravy a little bit.
• Pop the lid on, set to cook on low for 7-8 hours or until the meat is tender.

Enjoy!

Did you catch this recent post, the recipe for Slow Cooker Lasagna?  Oh my goodness, it sure is becoming popular!  Perfect comfort food at any time of the year.

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Find more slow cooker recipes for Kiwis, Aussies (and other cooks who use metric measurements) here at... Slow Cooker Recipes NZ - and check this out - the easiest way to see all my Slow Cooker Recipes!