Beef and Guinness Stew
Decent Winter warmer, or Summer warmer even, if like me, you enjoy stew all year round!
This recipe feeds 5 adults, so depending on appetites and numbers of children, it could easily cover a small family for two dinners. Don’t worry, the cooking kills off any alcohol that is in the Guinness
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: Approx 2 1/2 hours (it is a stew after all)
Beef and Guinness Stew
Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs Diced Beef
6 Carrots
2 Onions
1 tin of Chopped Tomatoes
1 can of Guinness
1 pint of Beef Stock (I use one of the Knorr Stock Pots)
50g of butter
Chopped Parsley
Some oil
Also need
Large pot to hold the stew (several litres)
Pot/Frying Pan to brown the meat.
Kitchen Paper
Method
– First peel the carrots and chop into bite sized chunks.
– Peel and roughly chop the onions (no need to chop them too small).
– In your large pot, melt the butter and then throw in the carrot and onions on a medium heat with the lid on to soften, stirring occassionally, and making sure they don’t burn.
– Heat some oil in your frying pan at a medium to high heat.
– Use some kitchen paper to pat dry the meat before adding to the pan (this helps it to brown quicker)
– Add the tomatoes and beef stock to the carrots and onions and simmer
– Cook the meat until it is fully sealed on the outside and add entire contents of pan to the large pot.
– Pour some Guinness into the pan and stir with a wooden spoon to loosen any bits of stock left from the browning. When happy, throw it into the pot with the rest of the Guinness, and then stir.
– Put the lid on the pot, and lower the heat, stirring occassionally to stop anything sticking to the bottom, for approx 2 hours.
– In the last half hour add the parsley (use approx 1 tablespoon of dried parsley).
When cooked the sauce should have thickened considerably. You’ll notice that I don’t add any additional herbs or seasoning, but feel free to add salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, garlic or whatever you think might work to it.
I would generally do mash potatoes on the side, or couscous, as it goes very well with it too (I just use the plain boil in the bag type).
If you’d like to cook the potatoes in the sauce and have a one pot stew, just throw them in when you’re adding the meat to the pot and perhaps add more stock or even just water as you’ll probably need the extra liquid for cooking.
Naturally, as it’s a stew, it’ll taste much better on the second day!!
Enjoy!