Beef stew is tastier and full of flavour if you add 1 simple ingredient

Beef stew can be taken to the next level using one simple ingredient you may already have at home. It's the time of year where Britons are getting back into the habit of cooking up cosy, warming dishes after coming in from the autumn cold.

And when the chill sets in there's nothing quite like a hearty soup or stew to look forward to in the evening. But if you're looking to turn your next homecooked beef stew from simple comfort food into something a bit more exciting, some foodies swear by a suprising addition - tomato paste.

Megan O. Steintrager wrote for Simply Recipes that the simple ingredient "amps up" the flavour and gives it a "punch of umami".

She said that she got the idea from a recipe for Classic Beef Stew by Meredith Laurence of Blue Jean Chef, and approached her to find out why it works so well.

Meredith said the couple of tablespoons she adds to her stew "adds a depth of flavor without increasing the liquid quantity in the dish".

This is key when all the ingredients are cooking together and you're trying to retain the intensity of the flavour without diluting it.

"Tomato paste is concentrated tomatoes and as a result has a concentrated flavor even in small amounts," she added.

They both add the paste after the beef has been browned and the the onion and garlic and other aromatics have been cooked.

Megan stirs the paste in and gently heats it for a couple of minutes. This is done before deglazing the pan and capturing all of the left over bits of meat or vegetable.

You can find Meredith's recipe for her Classic Beef Stew here.