Brush the inside of the slow cooker with a little of the oil.

Heat half of the remainder of the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.

Place the shallots or baby onions in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Mix the flour, salt and pepper together, and coat the pieces of veal in this mixture.

Brown the veal in batches in the frying pan, adding a bit more oil from time to time if necessary.

As you brown each batch, put it in the slow cooker.

Put the celery and carrot pieces on top of the meat.

Grate the garlic over and add the thyme and bay leaf.

Pour the stock over top of everything, and cook on low for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, remove the sprig of thyme, the bay leaf, and the carrot and celery sticks. Add the mushrooms and stir through gently.

Cook the stew for a further 30 minutes or until the veal is done.

Meat should have an internal temperature of at least 165 F.There will be a lot of liquid in the slow cooker.

Using a ladle, remove almost all of this liquid to a medium saucepan. (It probably won’t all come out easily, so don’t worry about the odd tablespoon or so in the bottom.)

Bring the liquid in the saucepan to the boil.

Continue to let it boil, with the lid off, until it is reduced by half, giving it a stir from time to time to stop it sticking.

When the liquid has reduced, turn the heat back to low and stir in the cream, a bit at a time, until you get a nice creamy sauce.

Add a good squeeze of lemon to balance the sauce.

Taste for seasoning, adding salt and freshly ground pepper if needed.

Add this sauce back to the meat and onions in the slow cooker and stir through.

Serve garnished with the parsley.