Savory, Beefy Guinness Stew

St. Patrick’s Day is this week, actually in a couple of days. If you’re scrambling to make something delicious, this hearty stew is one that is full of flavor and one to please a crowd. There aren’t many meals I will pass up however corned beef and cabbage is something I wholeheartedly try to avoid at all costs and if you can agree, make this instead. It is one to save to the recipe box and come back to each year!

The ingredients are so simple and all you need is a bit of time (a few short hours) dedicated to watching a simmering pot over the stove. Put on a favorite movie, some music and crack open a Guinness….for you and for this saporific dish.

Here are some things to know before getting started that may be helpful to you:

For those who may not know, Guinness is an Irish beer (a stout) that has a smooth and creamy taste due to the roasted flavor or unmalted barley. The richness of this beer makes it the perfect stout to cook with in many recipes. We’re specifically using Guinness in this stew because it is Irish and well, we’re celebrating the St. Patrick’s Day with this stew. It’s also a fantastic beer with health benefits to boot (read about that here) so cheers!

I prefer to use a beef chuck roast for this but any slow cooking cut of beef will work! Trim the fat where necessary and when it’s finished cooking you can even skim some of the fat. This is a healthful meal and it is intended to be a hearty one so I do prefer to leave quite a bit of fat in the stew for added flavor.

Some other vegetables to add to this stew would be peas or corn and some stewed tomatoes. I love to serve this over some creamy mashed potatoes.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons ghee (or butter)

2 ½ lbs. beef chuck (boneless)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

4 tablespoons minced garlic

2 large onions, chopped

12 ounces bacon, diced

4 tablespoons flour

1 14.9-ounce Guinness beer

¼ cup tomato paste

3 cups beef broth

4 large carrots, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces

3 large celery stalks, chopped into 1-inch pieces

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

Cut beef into 2-inch pieces. Pat dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a large pot, heat ghee over high heat. When melted, turn down heat to medium and add beef until completely browned through (you may need to do this in batches).

Lower heat to a low-medium temperature. Cook onion and garlic until soft, about 3 minutes. Add bacon. Cook until bacon is browned and add carrot and celery. Add flour to pot, stirring until flour is completely dissolved into mixture.

Stir Guinness and beef broth into pot until combined. Add tomato paste and mix well. Return the beef to the pot and stir will. Add bay leaves and thyme springs to stew.

Cover and cook on low heat for about 2 hours. At the 2 hour mark, remove lid and cook for another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point the beef should be very tender, falling apart at the touch of a fork. The sauce should be thickened and slightly reduced. Remove bay leaves and thyme springs and season with desired salt and pepper.