Okay, so this beef casserole with herbed dumplings was the best casserole I’ve made in a long time!  We all loved it and because it’s done in the slow cooker it’s a dish you can whip up in the morning before work, turn it on, come home in the arvo and dinner will be pretty much done.  You may like to serve with a side of green beans and carrots, maybe a corn cob, but that’s up to you.

Before I was additive-free I used to cook a lot of casseroles and use a sashay of something as the starter.  These sashays are often filled with additives like MSG but I didn’t know!  I just thought I was cooking a homemade dish, with a little help of pre-made herbs.  Wrong!

Related recipe: vegetable stock paste

February 20, 2018
  • 15m
  • 6h
  • 6h 15m
  • 1

Ingredients

Casserole Ingredients

  • 800 g diced beef
  • 2 tbsp. cornflour
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 brown onion
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 carrot
  • 1 zucchini
  • 10 mushroom
  • 2 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1 tbsp. beef bone broth powder or 1 cup liquid beef bone broth
  • 2 tbsp. vegetable stock paste

Dumpling Ingredients

  • 50 g butter
  • 330 g self-raising flour (gluten-free works well)
  • 200 g milk
  • 1 tsp. mixed herbs

Instructions

  1. Coat beef in cornflour dusting off any excess. Add olive oil to a frying pan and heat over med-high. Brown off the beef coating each side. This step is optional however it will add more flavour to the casserole.
  2. Pop this into the slow cooker along with all remaining slow cooker ingredients.
  3. In a food processor add flour and butter and turbo until the butter is well incorporated and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If you don't have a food processor rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips. Add remaining ingredients and turn on medium speed until the mixture forms a ball. If the mixture is too dry add a little more milk as the dough needs to be sticky.
  4. Break off pieces of dough (roughly the size of golf balls) and place them gently into the slow cooker on top of the beef. Using two spoons is easiest as these don't need to be rolled into balls, simply dolloped on top of the beef will be fine. Remember this dough will swell and double in size so place them apart a little bit.
  5. Cook on low for 6 hours and serve immediately.

Nutrition

  • 8