Mary Berry’s slow-cooked casserole has a secret ingredient for the perfect kick

After the merriment of Christmas comes the cold, cold January - often a tough month for many, and that might result in a lack of motivation to cook and eat well.

If the cold days and colder nights have you in need of a hearty feast, there are a few great options to consider, including Clodagh McKenna’s winter soup for a light alternative and the surprisingly simple dish Mary Berry says has the "perfect kick" for a winter’s day.

Mary has re-shared her recipe for the most mouth-watering slow-cooked beef casserole with horseradish and mustard that doesn’t need much effort to cook up - and only requires five core ingredients, excluding a few seasonings and thickeners.

Follow Mary’s simple recipe and within a couple of hours, you can have a recipe that transforms a topside joint of beef into a tender, flavour-packed roast with a golden crust - and it goes perfectly with seasonal veg and mash.

Hungry? Thought so. Let’s get on with the recipe…

Starting with the beef, Mary fries around 1.5KG of lean, stewing steak until it’s brown. As it’s a lot of meat, she does it in smaller batches.

Moving it about as it browns, Mary shares that it gives it the extra flavour and seals the meat in.

Once you’ve got the meat nice and brown - and if there’s a crust forming at the bottom of your pot, even better, Mary says - take the meat out, plate it up and leave to one side.

Next, add three roughly chopped onions and six cloves of crushed garlic into the pot you just fried the beef in, and pour in 300ml of beef stock.

Mary thickens the casserole with a mixture of 50g of flour and 300ml of white wine, before adding the meat back in.

For flavour, add three tablespoons of Worcester sauce before leaving the pot on a very low heat and cook until the meat is almost tender, which Mary suggests is about two hours.

After this time, add in 300 grams of chestnut mushrooms and leave to simmer for another 30 minutes.

The real trick and Mary’s secret ingredient for a kick that is "perfect for a winter’s day" is what comes next - a mixture of three tablespoons each of Dijon mustard and horseradish cream. Add it to the pot as it finishes simmering.

When you’re ready to serve, plate alongside a hearty dollop of mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.