Hot & Smoky Beef Stew

Our new favourite recipe!

I finally invested in a slow cooker! Amazing really that I'd never had one before so after being inspired by lots of recipes I'd been seeing on Pinterest I finally bought one. And then it sat in the cupboard in a sealed box for another month. But this weekend I finally cracked it open to see what it could do. I was kinda paranoid about having something bubbling away all day whilst I was out so I wanted the first time to at least be when I was home so the long weekend was the perfect opportunity!

After having no clue about cooking times and how much liquid, and how full it should be, and after all those recipes I'd been pinning I did what any normal person would do and made something up! It was based very loosely on this recipe.

Here's my slow cooker version;

Hot and Smoky Beef Stew (Slow Cooker) serves 4

Ingredients

• 750g Chuck Beef
• 6 rashers Smoked Bacon
• 1 Large Red Onion
• 4 Medium (7-8") Carrots
• 400g potatos
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 Chipotle Pepper (I used the canned type with some of the juices thrown in for good measure!)
• 1 1/2 tbsp Smoked Paprika powder
• 1/2 bottle red wine
• Crumbled Blue Cheese
• Chives

Directions
Chop everything up, throw in the crockpot, pour over the wine and cook on Low for 8 hours. Sprinkle Blue Cheese and Chives on top to serve.

I stirred it up a couple of times later in the cooking. The meat absolutely crumbles apart on touch when it's done! There's a definate kick of flavour here so feel free to reduce the paprika and chipotle accordingly (but try not to omit completely because it does help with the rich smokiness of the dish)