Dazz Switalla Flavour Secrets No.1 The Strand Chef www.no1thestrand.co.nz

As winter starts to bite into our bones – and you feel the chill factor as temperatures begin to plummet – there's nothing quite like coming home to a warming soup or hearty beef stew.

The most economical meals can be made by using lots of reasonably cheap seasonal vegetables.

For instance: buying a whole pumpkin, making a big batch of soup and freezing leftovers works out about the same price as one-tenth of a store-bought can.
Saving money for that seemingly giant winter power bill is about as important as saving time.

This is the season more slow cookers are brought out from the cupboard and brought into action.

There are numerous recipes for beef, with stock vegetables and seasonings added to make a delicious and easy dinner.

This week I have an old recipe which has a dice of vegetables, including celeriac, added during the initial stages – something others prefer to do later on in the cooking process.

There are two schools of thought on searing the meat – some just toss everything in and put the lid on, while others sear off everything first.

I prefer to seal off the meal in a hot pan in batches, with finely-diced onion adding flavour every step of the way. This increases your chance of success.

Winter beef stew and herb dumplings

Ingredients
Oil for cooking
1kg diced beef (blade, rump)
2 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 cup celeriac, diced
3 celery stalks, chopped
3 cloves garlic
Sea salt flakes and freshly-ground black pepper
1tsp dried thyme
270g diced tomatoes
700ml-1 litre beef stock
1 sprig of rosemary, de-stalked and chopped
¼ cup parsley, chopped
5 cups self-raising flour
50g butter
1 cup milk

Method

Seal off the beef in batches adding the chopped onion as you go so it turns well-browned. Season as you go, with the dried thyme and some salt and pepper.
Transfer each batch to the slow cooker and turn on.

Continue sealing all of the meat off. Add diced vegetables and garlic to the pan and seal them in batches. Add all to the slow cooker. Add tomatoes and a little beef stock to the pan and reduce to gain all the residue flavour.

Add this to the slow cooker along with some more stock and leave to cook for a minimum of three hours.

To make the dumplings, mix and rub the butter to the flour. Add chopped rosemary and chopped parsley, some extra salt. A blob of horse radish or mustard is nice also.
Add the milk to form a dough, and drop small balls of the mix onto the stew to cook through for about 20 minutes.

You may have to add more stock so there is enough liquid for the dumplings to float. This classic comfort food is a great way to warm up.