Butchers stew........

I went to the butchers at Callenick after work to try and get some inspiration for dinner. There were two ruby red beef steaks sitting on the marble slab and I realised how few stews I have made this winter. Stews are a dieters friend so I made this boozy little number...

Beef and Rattler Stew.....(Serves 4 or one girl and one hungry man!)

500g stewing steak
3 celery sticks
4 carrots
2 small red onions
2 cloves garlic
5oz mini chestnut mushrooms
3/4 pt beef stock
A few splashes of worcestershire sauce
3/4 pint Rattler cider
1 heaped tbsp plain flour
pepper

Trim off all the extra fat from the beef. Chop into pieces the size of 50p pieces. The beef I bought was so amazingly tender, it was like slicing butter. Spray a pan with olive oil and add the chopped celery, onions and garlic. Lower the heat and soften the vegetables. Turn the heat up and add the beef. Brown it.

Once it has a lovely brown colour, add the stock, cider, worcestershire sauce and carrots and boil for 2 minutes. Sieve in the flour and give it a good stir. Now you can either pop it in a casserole dish in a 150'c oven for one hour or place a baking tray on top of the saucepan and pop it in the oven. I don't have a casserole dish so had to make do.

After an hour take out of the oven and serve with brown rice and cabbage. Yum.