Beef and Red Wine Casserole With Cheesy Leek Scone Topping

The holiday shut down is over and it's back to work tomorrow. Time for one last slow cooked meal. 

Apologies for the dire photo. The lighting is DREADFUL in our kitchen at home and taking photos of anything indoors in the evening is next to useless.

This is easily enough to serve 4 - 5 adults, so we'll be having reheats tomorrow and probably Tuesday too !

For the casserole

500g braising steak

600g carrots

2 large onions

1 large parsnip

250g mushrooms

4 tablespoons of flour

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

3/4 tsp salt

500ml beef stock (water plus two stock cubes)

300ml red wine - I used Merlot

1 heaped teaspoon of Colemans English Mustard

1 heaped tablespoon dried oregano

4 tablespoons (about 80 > 100g) tomato puree

Toss the meat in the flour and brown all over. Set aside and cook the veg for a few minutes with a little liquid, followed by the onions and mushrooms. Add the stock, wine, herbs, mustard, tomato puree, seasoning plus any remaining flour and cook at about 140deg C fan oven in a covered container for about 1 hour. Remove the lid and cook for a further hour.

For the scone topping

315 g self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

1 leek (chopped, sweated in a pan with butter and cooled a little)

150g grated cheese

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 beaten egg

270ml milk

Add dry ingredients together followed by wet. Mix until just combined. 

When the casserole has cooked for a minimum of 2 hours, remove from the oven and spoon dollops over the top of the casserole. Return to the oven at 180deg C Fan for 15 > 20 minutes until done.