St. Patrick’s Day is around the corner. So I thought that in honor of the Irish… I’d share some recipes that are Irish-y in nature. lol The beef stew below can be made with any food beer, but why not go for the Guinness? The more flavorful the beer, the deeper the underlying notes to the stew. I also do not add potato cubes to the stew either. I prefer to mash the potatoes and then ladle the stew on top of a mound of fluffy white goodness.
Irish Beef and Guinness Stew
2 pounds beef chuck or sirloin, cut into 1-inch chunks (lamb is okay, too)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika- I use smoked
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 1/2 cups Guinness stout (any dark beer is okay)
1 cup beef stock
4 large carrots, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme
fresh parsley for garnish
Place beef cubes in a bowl and massage on 1 tablespoon of the oil. In another bowl, stir together the flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika. Dredge beef in this flour mixture until every side of all the beef pieces are coated and there is no loose flour in the bowl.
Heat remaining oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the beef in a single layer. If, due to the size of your pot, you need to do this in batches, take the time. The beef will steam instead of brown if you pile it all on top of itself. Browning it properly is the key to a good stew. After all the beef is browned, make sure it is all in the pot (if you did it in batches) and add the garlic and onions. Stir in for a minute or two (without letting the garlic brown). Add tomato paste, beer and beef broth and thyme. Add carrots, bay leaf, mustard and Worcestershire. Cover and cook for 3 1/2-4 hours at 325 degrees F until beef is tender. During second half of cooking check liquid level a couple times and add a little more beer or broth if too much has evaporated. If you like, you can make mashed potatoes ahead of time, place in a buttered casserole dish, cover with foil and keep warm in the oven with the stew during the last 20 minutes of it’s cooking.
Right before serving, remove the bay leaf, taste the gravy and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
Place a generous dollop of mashed potatoes or champ in a bowl, ladle stew over and sprinkle with parsley.
Crock-Pot method:
Brown beef as described above, then deglaze pan with beer and broth. Add all ingredients to your crock pot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Towards end of cooking check liquid level. Add more if needed.
Roses first came to the West from Persia in 1240 by way of French Crusaders. The first known cultivated rose is Rosa gallica var. officinalis, also known as the apothecary rose. I use the petals for various things: potpourri, bath fizzies, bath salts, rose water, and cooking. The petals are lovely in salads, but what I really like to do is candy them and make rose sugar.
In honor of the Chinese New Year (yes, other Asian countries also celebrate this New Year even though it’s called the Chinese one. lol), I thought I’d share a fortune cookie recipe. Red is the lucky color so make the little fortunes inside red ink on white paper or red paper with a dark or metallic ink.
