Bonfire Night stew

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!! Remember ,remember the 5th  of  November......well probably not if you're not English..! This annual celebration  in England, marks the anniversary of the failed Gun Powder Plot of 1605 (us Brits don"t forget things easily...!) and all across England,big bonfires are built and effigy's of Guy are burnt...accompanied by firework displays. In the village where we lived, the scouts organised the event,and came door to door looking for donations of fire wood weeks in advance of the event,and willing parents would cook hundreds of baked potatoes,bangers,and  hot tea to sell at the event....it was great fun.  I always used to cook a big warming pot of stew to come back home to after the event,  the evening is invariably freezing of course, so my recipe today is a hearty beef stew,with  veg, and beans,all cooked in a spicy tomato sauce. I'm off to light a sparkler fight now.....



2 tbps olive oil
2 1/2 lbs stewing steak
1 large onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
4 carrots, cut diagonally into 1 inch slices
2 cups beef stock
1 can (14 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (4 oz) diced green chilli's,drained
1 teasp Worcestershire sauce
1 teasp salt
1/4 teasp cayenne pepper
freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cans (15 oz each) pinto beans-drained

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil for a few minutes,until beginning to soften, then all all remaining ingredients to a slow cooker and coo on slow for 6-8 hours. Alternately ,simmer slowly in a dutch oven  for 3 hours,over a low heat. The meat should be falling apart....I had it cooking for 10 hours in the slow cooker and it  didn't come to any harm...

    I served mine with some homemade flaky cheese biscuits....an American biscuit that is, not the one covered in chocolate that you dunk in your tea..aka the British biscuit....  Good hearty food, great for a cold night when you want to curl up in front of the fire and  reminisce about the "old days".......
           Enjoy!