Beef and Guinness Stew

How can you not have Guinness or something containing it on St Patrick's Day? Today's dinner is Beef and Guinness Stew which contains the following ingredients:

• 1 pack of braising beef (400g);
• 1 stick of celery;
• 1 leek;
• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• 2 garlic cloves;
• 1 bottle of Guinness Stout (330ml);
• 1 beef stock cube;
• 1 large sprig of thyme;
• flour; and
• salt and pepper.

The method for this is extremely simple, firstly I dice the beef and dust in seasoned flour, before browning in an ovenproof pan.

1. Browning the beef

While the beef browns I preheat the (fan) oven to 160 degrees Celsius and roughly chop all the veg apart from the garlic cloves which I crush. Next I set aside the beef and brown the veg for a short while in the same pan.

2. Browning the veg

Following that I return the beef to the pan with the veg and add the Guinness, stock cube and thyme. I also add enough water to just cover the ingredients at this point and bring everything to the boil while stirring.

3. Adding the Guinness

4. Adding the thyme and the stock cube

5. Topping up with water and stirring while bringing to the boil

I lid the pan before putting it in the oven and leaving well alone for at least 2 hours.

6. The stew served with new potatoes & green beans

After two hours the stew has a wonderfully velvety consistency as the meat falls apart when pushed with a fork. You can taste a slight bitterness from the stout, which may not be to everyone's taste; indeed I may add a little sugar or increase the carrot quotient (with it's natural sweetness) next time I make this.