Irish Beef And Guinness Stew

Serves 6

For those of us who have not cooked with beer before this is a great place to start. The Guinness tenderises the beef and give the stew a beautiful malty taste. The Irish beef melts in your mouth perfectly and warms you up wonderfully on cold winter day, or St Patrick’s Day.

Beef stew is perfect for a relaxed dinner party. It tastes even better for left overs.  A great idea is to cook it the day before a dinner party and all you will be left to do is warm it up ready to serve. Then you have plenty of time to relax while you impress your guest with a tasty stew.    

Ingredients

• 900g braising steak
• 600ml or 1 pint Guinness
• Flour, for dusting
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 carrot, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 200g mushrooms

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C or gas mark 3.
2. Toss beef in flour.
3. Add 2tbsp of oil to a pan and fry the beef until lightly brown, move beef to a bowl.
4. Add remaining oil and cook onions until lightly brown, add carrots and mushrooms cook for another 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
5. Add tomato puree, mustard, sugar, thyme and Guinness, season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil.
6. Return the meat and juices to the pan. Add water, if necessary, so that the meat is coved. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 2 hours, until meat is tender.