Beef and Guinness Stew

With Saint Patrick’s Day being tomorrow, we wanted to share one of our favourite stew recipes – Beef and Guinness Casserole from ‘My Wild Atlantic Kitchen’ recipe book.

It’s the ultimate cosy, feel-good recipe, and is ideal to double [make sure you’ve a very big casserole dish!] and have in the freezer.

It’s one of those stews that tastes great the day that it’s made, and even better the day after!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2¾ lbs. (1.5 kg) stew beef, trimmed and cut into around 1½-in. (4 cm) pieces

• 2 Tbsp. plain white flour, seasoned with sea salt and cracked black pepper

• 1 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil

• 4 Tbsp. butter

• 17½ oz. (500ml) good quality beef stock

• 1 Tbsp. tomato puree

• 4 large onions, peeled and sliced

• 8 oz. (225g) carrots, peeled and sliced

• 8 oz. (225g) celery, roughly chopped

• 17½ oz. (500ml) Guinness

• 5 thyme sprigs

• A few springs of flat leaf parsley or a small bay leaf, to garnish

• Sea salt and cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Part One: Beef

Preheat the oven to fan 170°C / fan 340°F / gas mark 5.

Toss the beef in the seasoned flour to coat, shaking off any excess. In a large casserole dish, heat the oil and melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over a high heat. Add the beef to the pan and quickly brown in batches. Be careful not to crowd the pan as the beef will stew instead of sear and caramelize. Remove the seared beef to a plate. Reduce the heat to low and add 100 milliliters of the beef stock to deglaze, scraping the residue off the base to save the caramelized flavor. Stir in the tomato puree and then turn the heat off.

Part Two: Vegetables

In a frying pan, melt the remaining butter over a medium heat. Add the onions and saute for 10 minutes or until softened. Tip the onions out of the pan and set aside. To the same pan, add the carrots and celery and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Deglaze this pan with a little of the stock and add to the casserole.

Part Three: Combine Beef and Vegetables

Add the meat, onions, carrots and celery to the casserole dish with the Guinness and remaining stock. Add the thyme sprigs and stir all together to ensure everything is well distributed. Bring the casserole to the boil over a high heat, then cover and braise in the oven for 3 hours, checking periodically that it’s not drying out and adding more stock (or water) if necessary. Check the meat with a skewer or knife to see if it’s tender; it should be soft and easily come apart. Season to taste.

There you have it, the stew for people who don’t love stews! It’s an absolute crowd pleaser! Our kids adore it too so it’s a great one when cooking for a large number, with mixed ages.

Serve with some lovely creamed potatoes and you’ll be the talk of the village!

*Photo Credit: My Wild Atlantic Kitchen