Slow cooker beef topside with red wine gravy
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- Plus 1hr marinating
- Easy
- Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp English mustard powder
- 2 tbsp chopped rosemary
- 1 tsp celery seeds
- 15g dried porcini mushrooms
- 4 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
- 1.6kg beef topside, cut into 12 slices
- 600ml hot beef stock
- 1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 200ml red wine
- 1 tbsp cornflour (optional)
Method
- STEP 1
Crush the peppercorns with the mustard, rosemary, celery seeds and a little salt using a pestle and mortar. Blitz the mushrooms to a fine powder in a food processor, then stir them in with 2 tbsp oil and rub all over the beef. Cover and chill for at least 1 hr, but overnight is best.
- STEP 2
Heat the slow cooker to high and pour in the stock. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan and brown the beef, then put in the slow cooker skin-side up. Fry the carrot, onion and celery in the same pan over a medium-high heat for about 10 mins. Stir in the tomato purée and wine, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan, then add this to the slow cooker.
- STEP 3
Cook on low for 6 hrs, then strain the liquid into a pan. Keep the meat and veg covered with foil so they stay warm. Bring the liquid to the boil, then simmer until reduced by a third and season. For thicker gravy, mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp water and whisk into the boiling liquid. Serve the beef with the gravy, along with some mash and greens.
