{Recipe} ::: Grandma Zoe's Casserole

I've bee meaning to share this recipe with you all for awhile now. It has to be one of my favourite meals to make in our house, not only because it tastes AMAZING, but it is also packed full of vegetable goodness, and makes such a large quantity it easily feeds our family for lunch and dinner for 2 days, sometimes more!

My mother-in-law has been making this for a long time, and gave me the recipe a few years back now. It is one of those really hearty meals, and I remember being amazed when I saw the recipe was so simple, thinking how on earth can this taste SO flavoursome...but it just does. It does take a little while to prep it all, but once it is done, it will be so worth it!

Play around with the vegetables you put in, and the quantities too, until you get it just the way you like it. I love the pumpkin the most in this dish, so I tend to use more pumpkin than the other veggies!

The recipe is below - so have a try and let me know how you go with it! Hopefully it will become a family favourite for you too!

Grandma Zoe's Casserole

500-700g beef stewing steak, cut into chunks

2 Tbs plain flour

Salt & Pepper

2 x onions, chopped

4 x cloves garlic, peeled

4 x carrots, chopped in bite size pieces

3 x potatoes, chopped in bite size pieces

4 x sticks celery, chopped in bite size pieces

1/2 pumpkin, chopped in bite size pieces

2 Tbs vegetable stock paste (optional)

Herbamare salt (optional)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Place the steak in a plastic bag with the flour, salt and pepper and shake until well coated. Heat some oil in a large frying pan and cook the steak until browned through. Remove to a large casserole dish.

Put onions and garlic into the frying pan, and stir until soft, translucent and fragrant. Add in the rest of the vegetables and cook until all vegetables are well softened - don't skimp on this step. I let mine cook for a good 20 minutes or more, sitrring in between every so often. If you don't let them soften up as much as possible, they won't melt in your mouth at the end!
Add a little more oil if necessary.

Place the cooked vegetables on top of the meat in the casserole dish. Add a little water to your frypan along with the vegetable stock paste (if using) and rub the base of the frypan with a wooden spoon to release all the delicious juices and bits. Pour this liquid on top of the casserole, and top with a little more water if needed (until the liquid level is almost to the top of the dish). *The vegetable stock paste and herbamare are asbolutely optional. The dish still tastes fantastic without them.

Cover with foil (or a lid if you have one) and pop into the oven for 2 hours.

We find this quantity makes 8-10 serves, easily. If you aren't keen on eating it over the course of a couple of days, it freezes really well also.

xxx