Wednesday, February 17, 2010

How to make Guinness Beef Stew... and Irish Soda Bread


Cast of characters: 2lbs of stew meat (normally I'd use beef but we are out of organic beef stew meat so I used some of our organic buffalo meat instead) 2 giant potatoes, 2 carrots (they must of missed the photo shoot due to a scheduling conflict, 1 large onion 3-4 cloves of garlic, flour, 1 can of Guinness beer, salt, pepper and olive oil.


Place 1 cup of flour in a large bowl...


Add 1 tablespoon of salt


1 tablespoon of freshly ground pepper


And combine


Chop onion and set aside


Cut beef into bite sized chunks


Place 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven and heat on medium (this one has been VERY loved and desperately needs to be scrubbed... I'll have to put that on the handsome husbands "to do" list... as scrubbing gunk off of pans falls under the "only husband's do this task" category).


Dredge (is that what it's called?) the beef with/in the flour mixture... be sure and shake off any excess flour


And brown beef on all sides


Kinda like this


and set aside


Then wipe out your dutch oven...
add a few more tablespoons of olive oil and saute the onions


Add the minced garlic


Smells yummy!


Cut your potatoes and carrots into man sized chunks
and set aside


Pour the Guinness into your dutch oven


Add the meat and vegetables


Add 6 cups of water (maybe 8)


Bring to a boil


And place in the oven for about 2-3 hours at 300 degrees


When it's ready...
don't forget to serve it up with a nice hunk of
Irish Soda Bread and some butter...

Delish!


Irish Soda Bread
(adapted from The Irish Spirit)

2 1/2 cups of All purpose flour
2 tea baking soda
1 tea baking powder
1/2 tea salt
2 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup quick oats
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg
----------------
Sift together the dry ingredients
make a well... pour in the wet ingredients
and mix with a wooden spoon
until it forms a soft dough
*you may need to add a little more flour (BUT NOT MUCH)
With floured hands shape into 2 round loaves and place on parchment paper
sprinkle the tops with a little oatmeal if you'd like and be sure and make an X on the center of each loaf (to ward off the evil spirits) and bake for 25-30 minutes at 325 degrees
DO NOT OVER BAKE...
(check with a toothpick inserted into the center at the 25 minute mark)
remove from oven and cool on a rack...
serve with yummy butter or jam

6 comments:

  1. You forgot the part when you call you friend Kathy...from the other side of the country over for dinner!!! ;) These both look delish Mavis!! I'm going to have to go out an buy some guiness...pronto!!

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  2. Kathy... if you are ever in Seattle you are welcome at our dinner table :) The stew was gooood!

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  3. Thanks for sharing Mavis! How fun to share a great recipe...it all looks yummy. :)

    Oh...I am on the right side of the country...can I come for dinner?? ;-)

    Have a great evening!
    Camille

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  4. Camille... Are you bringing refried beans? If so, then YES you can come for dinner too :)

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  5. It sounds delicious, I can't remember that last time I had real stew like you just made...so good. Don't worry about the carrots, they are always late for photo ops...

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