Beef and Vegetable Moroccan Stew

Em’s lovely nursery recently revamped their menus. I thought was pretty good before but now they have really gone all our with variety

Here are few of the mains

Szechuan Pork and Basmati Rice
Carrot and Coriander with Orange Zucchini Bread
Broad Bean and Bacon Pasta
Moroccan Vegetable Stew with apricot cous cous
Sausage and Bean Hotpot

Some of the kids struggled a bit with a change from some of their firm favourites so Nursery has been encouraging parents to try out some of the recipes.
Morrocan is a firm favourite in our house so inspired for Sunday Lunch this week.

Hosting the in-laws I have begun to much prefer casserole in the slow cooker to full roast lunch on a Sunday ,  Stew or casserole ( (I set the slow cooker on a plug-in timer the night before)  and my slightly tired and brain doesn’t have to worry about timings , nothing gets burnt if I am distracted by a child tantrum  and I am able to spend more time with guests.

This dish went down a storm and even better at 7 months Issy has eaten lots of it pureed in the following week. Not that getting Issy to eat is an issue , it is the enormous amounts that she eats, I struggle with. This time around weaning is much easier probably because much of the food we eat is more child-freindly. If you are ever looking for some inspiration Lets Get Cooking at Home does have some good ideas.

Moroccan Beef and Vegetable Stew

Makes enough for 8 people which means plenty left for mels in the week

1kg of shin of beef diced into 1.5cm cubes
500g of carrots
3 sticks of celery
500g tin of chick peas
1 medium sized butternut squash diced into 1cm cubes
1 large onion roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic
1 large handful of dried apricots
2 tbps of ras al hanout ( but you could use a mix of tumeric , paprika , ground coriander , ground cumin , grpund cardamon chilli powder )

Place all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours. Stir after 4 hours

Serve with cous cous and a little cucumber mint yogurt.