Slow cooker vegetable stew with cheddar dumplings
Prep
20 mins
Cook
6 hrs
Servings
6
Difficulty
Hard
This is my go to recipe when I want something hearty and wholesome without spending hours in the kitchen. You just dump everything into the slow cooker and let it do the work for six hours while you get on with your day. The beauty of this stew is that it's packed with vegetables like spinach and broad beans, which are fantastic sources of iron and fiber, so you're getting real nutrition in every bowl. Those fluffy cheddar dumplings on top make it feel like comfort food, but the whole thing comes together incredibly cheaply with pantry staples and whatever vegetables you have hanging about. It's the kind of meal that fills your house with the most amazing smell and leaves everyone asking for seconds.
Ella x
Ingredients
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 200 gbaby carrots scrubbed(trimmed and halved if large)
- 13 leeks cut into thick slices
- 13 garlic cloves crushed
- 3 tbspplain flour
- 400 mlvegetable stock
- 12 courgettes cut into large chunks
- 12 x 400g cans butter or cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 11 bay leaf
- 14 thyme rosemary or tarragon sprigs
- 200 mlcrème fraîche
- 1 tbspwholegrain mustard
- 200 gbroad beans or peas
- 200 gspinach
- ½ smallbunch of parsley finely chopped(plus extra to serve)
- 100 gself-raising flour
- 50 gvegetarian suet or cold butter(grated)
- 100 gmature cheddar
Detail level
Instructions
- 1
Set the slow cooker to low. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan and fry the carrots for 5 mins until just golden, then tip into the slow cooker.
- 2
Heat the remaining oil in the pan and fry the leeks with a pinch of salt for 5 mins until soft. Add the garlic and stir in the flour. Gradually add the stock, stirring, until the flour has dissolved and there are no lumps. Bring to the boil, then tip into the slow cooker. Add the courgettes, beans and herbs, topping up with water to cover the veg, if needed. Cover and cook for 4 hrs.
- 3
To make the dumplings, tip the flour into a bowl and stir in the suet or butter until evenly distributed. Add the cheese, parsley, ½ tsp cracked black pepper and a pinch of salt. Mix in 3-4 tbsp cold water with your hands to make a soft, slightly sticky dough (add a little more water if needed). Divide into six and roll into balls.
- 4
Add the crème fraîche, mustard, broad beans or peas and spinach to the slow cooker and turn it to high. Arrange the dumplings over the stew, cover and cook for 1-2 hrs more until firm and doubled in size. Scatter with parsley and serve. Will keep for up to three days in the fridge or in the freezer for up to three months.
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