Game Day Beef Au Jus Sandwiches

It's a rainy Saturday and it's game day.  I felt like a cooked lunch today and overheard a version of this the other day.  It's a very simple dish, essentially adding a few tins together and cooking slowly over 4-6hrs.  I put this on about 8:30am this morning and had it well and truly ready for mid game lunch today. Exactly what I felt liked and it turned out really nicely.  A good dish when you have people coming through at different times, you can keep it warm in your slow cooker and serve whenever you're ready.

Serves 6

Ingredients:
1.8 lb Beef stew meat, cut into 5-6 large pieces
salt and cracked pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tin Beef Broth
1 tin French Onion condensed soup
1 onion, sliced
1 bay leaf
1 tspn dijon mustard
1/2 cup red wine
1 tspn cornflour to thicken if necessary

Method:

• Season your meat heavily with salt and cracked pepper
• Heat a pan on the stove top and sear the beef in a little olive oil until well browned
• Remove and place in a slow cooker.
• Add a little more olive oil and cook the onion until tender and soft.  Add the garlic.  Then using some of the beef broth, deglaze the pan and get all the beef juices off the bottom of the pan
• Tip it all into the slow cooker with the beef.
• In the slow cooker, pour in the remainder of the beef broth, tin of french onion soup, mustard, bay leaf and red wine.  Ensure the beef is covered so add a little water if needed
• Set the slow cooker to HIGH and cook for 3-4hrs.
• Once that amount of time has past, remove the beef and shred with a fork and then place it back into the pot. 

• If you need to thicken the sauce a little more, either cook with the lid off for a while or add a teaspoon of cornflour and stir it through.  I had my lid off for about 30-45mins and it worked out nicely.  
• Serve in lightly toasted buns with some grated gruyere cheese and a beer!