Mediterranean beef stew

This is something that I’ve been making for at least 15 years now, I saw the recipe in a magazine and have made my own adaptions over the years. It’s a really tasty, warming dish that can be served with pasta, rice, mashed potato, gnocchi or even just a crusty bread roll to scrape up the juices. Lately I’ve been serving this deliciously beefy stew with cauliflower rice.

400g diced beef dusted in 2 tablespoons of plain flour and seasoning
1 chopped onion
4 anchovy fillets (optional)
3 sliced traffic light peppers (red, yellow and green)
70g pitted black olives
1 beef stock cube and 300ml of water
1 can of tomatoes (I used canned cherry tomatoes)
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 glass of red / white wine
1 teaspoon of sugar
A good pinch of salt and ground pepper
A small sprig of Rosemary
A bunch of fresh basil and / or oregano

In a ziplock type bag, add the 2 tablespoons of flour and seasoning. I used a concoction of salt, white pepper, some steak and chop mixed space and paprika. Then add the chopped beef cubes, seal the bag and shake around until the beef is coated in the seasoned flour. The flour will help to thicken the stew, if you find that at the end of cooking that the sauce is still too thin then mix a teaspoon of cornflour with about 100ml of the sauce and add this back to the stew, stir while on the heat and the sauce will thicken.
In a thick bottomed casserole pot or pressure cooker pot (depending on how you wish to cook this) add a tablespoon of oil and brown the cubed meat.
Then add the onion, peppers, olives, garlic, anchovy (if using) and tomato paste and stir until the veg begins to soften slightly.
Then add the beef stock, canned tomatoes, wine, Rosemary and sugar and stir.
Fast cooking (in a pressure cooker):
Seal the pressure cooker and bring to the boil, when high pressure is reached, reduce the heat and keep at pressure for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and allow the pressure cooker to reduce pressure naturally (i.e. Don’t run under cold water or release the pressure manually).
Slow cooking (in a cast iron casserole dish):
When all the ingredients are combined, stir together and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle bubble and cook slowly for at about 2 to 3 hours. You can also put this into the oven with the lid on and cook at 130 degrees for the same length of time.
When it’s done the meat should be beautifully tender and break down easily when pressed against the side of the pot.
Once cooked, stir the fresh herbs into the stew, leave in there for about 10 mins to soften and enjoy with your choice of starch and a bit of grated Parmesan cheese.