Beef and Pearl Barley Casserole

Name: Beef and Pearl Barley Casserole
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h 40 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: Serves: 4
Ingredients: 300 g butternut squash or swede, peeled and chopped; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 litre beef stock (plus extra if needed); 1 medium parsnip, finely chopped; 1 large carrot, finely chopped; 4 sprigs fresh thyme; crusty bread, to serve; 100 g pearl barley; 1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil; 2 tbsp tomato purée; 100 ml red wine (optional); 500 g diced stewing beef; 150 g whole button mushrooms; 100 g silverskin onions (from a jar)

Preparation info

Serves:
4

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
1 hr 50

Appears in

My Fussy Eater

By Ciara Attwell

Published 2018

About

This casserole is the ultimate cold-weather comfort food. It takes a bit of time to cook but it’s worth every minute of the wait. It’s also ideal for cooking in bulk so that you can freeze half for another day.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
500 g diced stewing beef
1<

Stew
Main course
Winter

Method

Heat the oil in a large casserole dish or wide saucepan over a medium heat. Add the diced beef and fry for about 5 minutes until the meat has browned, then add the carrot, parsnip, squash or swede, mushrooms, silverskin onions and garlic and fry for a further 3 minutes.
Add about 700ml of the beef stock, red wine (if using), tomato purée and thyme, bring to the