Slow cooker beef topside with red wine gravy

Make this for Sunday lunch – the whole family will love it. Slow-cooking makes the meat so tender, and gives it a real depth of flavour.

■ Serves 6 ■ Prep 20 mins plus at least 1 hr marinating n ■ Cook 2 hrs 10 mins FREEZABLE

1 tbsp black peppercorns

1 tbsp English mustard powder 2 tbsp chopped rosemary

1 tsp celery seeds

15g dried porcini mushrooms

4 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil

1.6kg beef topside, cut into 12 slices 600ml hot beef stock

1 large carrot, roughly chopped 1 large onion, roughly chopped 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped 2 tbsp tomato purée

200ml red wine

1 tbsp cornflour (optional) mash, greens and a pinch of thyme leaves, to serve (optional)

1 Crush the peppercorns, mustard, rosemary, celery seeds and a little salt together using a pestle and mortar. Blitz the mushrooms to a fine powder in a food processor, then stir them in with half the oil and rub all over the beef. Cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hr, or overnight.

2 Heat the slow cooker to high and pour in the stock. Heat the remaining oil in a large pan and brown the beef, then put in the slow cooker skin-side up. Fry the carrot, onion and celery over a medium-high heat for about 10 mins. Stir in the tomato purée and wine, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan, and add to the slow cooker.

3 Cook on low for 6 hrs, then strain the liquid into a pan. Keep the meat and veg covered so they stay warm. Bring the liquid to the boil, then simmer until reduced by a third and season. For thicker gravy, mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp water and whisk into the boiling liquid. Serve the beef with the gravy, along with some mash and greens, and thyme leaves sprinkled over, if you like. PER SERVING 690 kcals, fat 43g, saturates 16g,

carbs 10g, sugars 4g, fibre 3g, protein 58g, salt 0.8g