Guinness Stew

I am a sucker for holiday recipes…..any holiday, you name it!  So with my hubby’s Irish heritage into play for upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, I had to find an “authentic” Irish recipe to serve along with all of the fun green food the kids would enjoy. This recipe originally came from my mother in law as Guinness Pie, with the filling being so hearty and yummy, that I tweaked it a bit to make it into a stew. Take note, this recipe takes about 5 hours from start to finish, so plan to make a day of it. If you can chop the vegetables the night before, it saves a lot of time.  Most of the time is spent in the stew just slow cooking, which will fill your kitchen with an the amazing aroma of the meat, onions and Guinness melding all together. So sit back, enjoy a pint of Guinness, turn on a little Celtic music and just let the flavors and smells waft through your kitchen and ENJOY!

Lisa @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 3 medium red onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 ribs of celery, chopped
• 4 mushrooms, sliced
• 2.5 lbs brisket or stewing beef, cut into 3/4″ cubes
• a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pint can of Guinness Beer (not lager)
• 3 heaping Tbsp flour
• water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large oven proof pan, heat the olive oil on low heat.  Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes.  Turn the heat up to medium and add garlic, butter, carrots, celery and mushrooms.  Mix everything together before stirring in the beef, rosemary, sea salt and pepper.  Fast fry for 3-4 minutes.  Pour in the Guinness, stir in the flour and add just enough water to cover (I used apx 1 cup).  Bring to a simmer, cover the pan with an oven proof lid and place in the preheated oven for about 1 1/2 hours.  Remove pan from oven and give it a good stir.  Return to oven and continue to cook for an additional hour, or until the meat is very tender and the stew is rich, dark and thick.  The perfect meat stew should be thick and robust, so if it is still a little liquify, place the pan on stove top burner and reduce until sauce thickens. At this point – if you are wanting to freeze – continue to freezing directions. Serve warm with freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese and hearty chunk of Irish Soda Bread if desired.

Freezing Directions:

Cool completely.  Pour contents into a gallon freezer storage bag and freeze for up to 3 months.  To serve: Thaw.

Servings: 6

**conversion chart image provided by Erik Spiekermann

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 12th, 2012 at 7:00 am and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.