Irish Beef and Guinness Stew

Sadly, the weather around here seems to have taken a turn for the worse again. Coming in from downpours and listening to hail on the window only means one thing - comfort food. We decided to make this big pot of stew as we had a few friends coming over and we all wanted something warm and comforting to ward off this everlasting winter. This is best made the day before as stew always tastes better the next day!

This pot served 5 generously!

You will need:

3 Medium White Onions
6-7 Medium Starchy Potatoes
3 Carrots
1 Beef Stock Cube (or stock/bouillon!)
700g of Chuck Steak

1 Clove of Garlic
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1 Bay Leaf
7 tbsp Cornflour
Oil for frying

1. Preheat oven to 180°C

2. Roughly dice two of the onions and the clove of garlic and fry until onions are translucent 

3. Cut the carrot into round and peel and quarter the potatoes. Set aside in water until later

4. Dice beef (if it isn't pre-diced already) and add to bowl with cornflour - coat thoroughly

5. Brown beef on all sides and add guinness to de-glaze the pan (remove bits stuck to bottom of pan)

6. After guinness has reduced slightly place beef and onion mixture in an ovenproof dish with a lid

7. Add beef stock (just enough to cover beef) with the bay leaf, oregano and remaining onion(diced)

8. Stew for 4 hours covered then add potatoes and carrots and stew for a further 90 minutes

9. After this time check the vegetables are tender and the stew is to your own thickness preference

My advice would be to let the stew sit until the next day then simply reheat in the oven for an hour! Enjoy with a big dollop of brown sauce - this will keep your belly full and your toes warm until the sun shows it's face again!