Slow cooker beef topside with red wine gravy

6 servings beef beef topside over an hour red wine gravy slow cooker

N/A

Source

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

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.

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.

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.