I stumbled upon this recipe whilst looking for something a bit different to a normal casserole. It was just so easy to do and totally delicious. To make it vegetarian just replace the beef with some quorn pieces (but don’t put them in the slow cooker for 8 hours!)
Serves 6 (or 4 to 5 in my family!!)
- 600g lean diced beef
- 1 Butternut Squash cut into cubes (frozen is fine)
- 1 red onion
- 4 crushed garlic cloves
- 80g pitted prunes (I uses a can – make sure you remove the stones!)
- 1 tablespoon thyme leaves (I uses dried herbs)
- large handful parsley leaves finely chopped
- 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
- 500ml beef stock
- 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 4 large handfuls of spinach
Method –
- Tip the beef into the slow-cooker and stir in the cornflour
- Add all of the rest of the ingredients apart from the spinach, season with salt and pepper and give it all a good stir
- Set it to cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours
- When you are ready to serve, stir in the spinach leaves until they have wilted.
This works really well with green vegetable and mash potato or if you don’t have time for mash then couscous is a really good substitute. If you go with the vegetarian option of quorn pieces just add them half way through the cooking time otherwise they might quite literally fall apart if they are cooked for too long! Enjoy!