Crock Pot Beef Stew and Chickpeas with Spinach | Crock Pot Beef Stew Recipe

Do you have a potato ricer? It's a fancy potato masher that makes the most creamy mashed potatoes you've ever had – it's what those fancy chefs on TV use to make those deliciously creamy mashes with. But it also has another use – pressing out the water in the spinach - as specified is necessary in this recipe! A very handy little tool. 

I justified the purchase of a potato ricer because my family prefers mashed sweet potato to any other kind of carb with dinner (almost every night) and I cook with spinach and serve it as a vegetable regularly. 

I only use my old potato masher now when I need to change the texture of vegetables in a slow cooker soup recipe!

Beef Stew and Chickpeas with Spinach

Serves 6

Cook on low for 8 hours

1 tsp raw or brown sugar

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cube beef bouillon

1 cup water

¼ cup tomato paste

2lbs beef cubed and trimmed of fat

1 onion chopped finely

14oz can of chickpeas, drained

10oz package frozen spinach, thawed, water pressed out

• Add the sugar, Worcestershire sauce and beef bouillon to the slow cooker and dissolve with some of the water.
• Add the tomato paste and then the rest of the water, stir to combine.
• Add the remaining ingredients, stir to combine, cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

When I first made this, I cooked it with the intention of eating it the next day, reheated.  The gravy had thickened and the flavors had developed.  I had enough for two meals, so I added a teaspoon of curry powder to the second quantity before storing it.  When we ate that we really enjoyed it with a bit of extra 'kick'.  The tomato-spinach-beef gravy lends itself well to the spice, so you could either put 2 teaspoons of curry powder in at the beginning of cooking or just before serving.  Delightfully different and certainly tasty!