The key to this one is browning - the meat, the onion, and also by using brown stock (beef stock made with bones and vegetables previously roasted to brown). Both mushrooms and dried porcini also contribute to the depth of colour and flavour.

Ingredients - serves 4

800g steak & kidney
1 large onion, peeled & chopped
4 carrots, peeled & cut into chunks
4 portobello mushrooms, cut into chunks
500ml brown beef stock
a small handful of dried porcini
2 thyme sprigs
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp of plain flour
1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp of mushroom ketchup
salt, pepper

75g suet
150g self raising flour
2 tbsp thyme leaves/chopped parsley
pinch of salt, pepper

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C
Heat the stock and add the porcini - torn into small pieces - then leave to stand until required. Toss the steak and kidney in seasoned flour and fry off in olive oil, in batches, to browned all over - remove and add a little more oil to the casserole dish. Now fry the onion to browning a little also then throw in the chunks of carrot and cook for a further few minutes. Return the meat to the pan with porcini/stock, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and mushroom ketchup. Bring to simmering point then cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours. Remove and add the chunks of portobello mushroom, pushing them down into the stew.

2 Increase the oven temperature to 200°C
Mix together the suet, sifted self raising flour and herbs with a little salt and some pepper. Now begin to add ice cold water, mixing with a metal spoon until a dough is formed. Don’t overwork the dough or it will be heavy, handle it as little as possible. Divide the dough roughly into four pieces and form lightly into balls, sit on the surface of the stew and return to the oven without the lid for 20 minutes or until the dumplings are swollen and crisp on the surface. Time to divide the stew between warmed plates (removing and discarding thyme twigs), top with a dumpling and serve with mashed potato.