Good on day one, better on day two and unctuous on day three – that’s beef stew. Like all of us and good wine it gets better with age.
The last time I ambitiously put a ‘bouquet garni’ together (it has to mean pleasant smelling garnish or something close to that) I entwined together some sprigs of herbs and bay leaves. Nice and cheffy but that leaves you with surplus sprigs and a container of bay leaves that in all probability will never truly find love. My latest find is a container of what looks like several teabags labelled as ‘bouquet garni’ , nice and handy, that will do nicely thank you very much.
Beef & Guinness Stew
(An extra large frying pan or hob proof large casserole pot is best for the first stage, I like to transfer to a large tagine for the oven stage)
You will need:
2 tbsp any cooking oil you like
1 kg stewing beef pieces
2 fat onions
4 chubby cloves
1 tbsp dried thyme
4 tbsp tomato puree
2 heaped tbsp flour
1 tin whole peeled plum tomatoes
1 500ml can Guinness
1kg carrots chopped
Bouquet Garni
Method :
Preheat the fan oven to 140C
Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the beef (do in batches if pan not big enough)
While beef browns chop your onion – whatever way you like it
Set the beef aside
Soften the onion in the pan for 5 minutes
Add the chopped garlic, thyme and tomato purée , stir well to coat the onions
Add back in the meat , sprinkle the flour over the top and stir well to cook the flour for a few minutes
Add the tinned tomatoes and the Guinness , raise the heat , stirring to combine everything until there is a gentle bubble of heat
Add chopped carrots
If you have a tagine transfer the stew to that and then place in the oven
Cook on 150C fan oven for one hour
Reduce to 140C and cook for further two hours at least
Great with any type of potatoes but particularly comforting with buttery mashed potatoes. (remove the bouquet garni!)
Enjoy!
(Tastes even better reheated on Day 2+)
x Sheila
