Delicious and Light Guinness Stew

Ok before we begin.... how funny is this?!

No lie, I laughed at that picture for a good 5 minutes.

Ok.

Back to the task at hand.

 Guinness Stew!

The recipe for this stew is based on the one from The Food Network. While the process of cooking was the same, my ingredients were slightly different, as shown below in the red writing.

This recipe takes about 2 and a half hours to make. The first part, which took me half an hour, is the most difficult part. Not that it is difficult to do, just that there are multiple things that need to happen in a short period of time, so everything needs to be ready. Once the "stewing" begins, it is easy.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds stewing beef cut into 2 inch cubes - I cut them a bit smaller, which meant they cooked faster, and there was more to go around.
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons flour
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of cayenne -Red pepper flakes
• 2 large onions, coarsely chopped -1 small onion, cut into big pieces (I hate onion, so I cut it in a way that it could be easily picked out).
• 1 garlic clove, crushed 
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree, dissolved in 4 tablespoons water - 4 tablespoons tomato puree, dissolved in 6 tablespoons water
• 1 1/4 cups Guinness- At least 1 1/2 cups Guinness (yumm!)
• 2 cups largely diced carrots
• Sprig of fresh thyme (Omitted)
• Chopped parsley, for garnish (Omitted)
• Corn
• Green beans
• Potatoes

The recipe says it makes enough for 6 servings. Because I made mashed potatoes to go with the stew, it actually made a lot more. You could easily make this into dinner for 8 people. In my case, this provided dinner for 4 with seconds for 2 (6), plus lunch servings for 6- 12 servings all together! If you eat small lunch servings like me, this goes a loooong way!

1. The first step, which sounds silly but is important, is to have everything ready to use (duh). Veggies and the meat should be cut. The tomato puree should be mixed with the water, and the beer should be sitting nearby. The first few steps happen quite quickly, so you want to be ready!

As you can see, I used frozen corn (actually the stuff you steam in the bag), but all of the rest of the veggies were fresh. I couldn't tell the difference between them, taste or consistency wise! I used the potatoes to make mashed potatoes, which tastes delicious with the stew. However, you could add the potatoes into the stew if you prefer. 

2. Mix the flour with the salt, pepper, and cayenne. 

3. Coat the meat in 1 tablespoon of oil. 

4. Mix the flour and meat, so all pieces of meat are coated.

5. Heat the remaining 2tbs of oil in a pan/ skillet on high heat (I did level 6 out of 9 levels of heat). Then, brown the meat (all sides).

6. Reduce the heat (I went down to 2 or 3 out of 9), and add 2/3 of the tomato/water mix, and all the garlic, and the onion. Cover, and let cook for 5 minutes.

 7. Transfer the contents to a pot. The instructions say casserole, but the large pot worked perfectly well. 

8. Pour 1/2 of the Guinness into the skillet, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve all the juices (only 2/3 minutes). Add Guinness/juices to the pot.

9. Add other 1/2 of Guinness, other 1/3 of tomato/water mixture, and all veggies to the pot.

10. Cover the pot, and let "stew" for anywhere from 1.5-3 hours. I started at level 5 heat, which I kept it at for about an hour. This is much higher than the low heat recommended in the recipe, but I had a tall pot, which would have meant longer cooking time if I kept it low. Also, I was hungry. And impatient. Then I reduced the heat to 4, then 3, then 2., over the course of the next 30/45 minutes. Altogether, I cooked mine for about 1.5 hours, but ended up leaving it on low for another 30 minutes. The main thing here is checking back every 30 minutes to see how tender the meat is. 

Mashed potatoes:

Super easy way to mash potatoes? First, cut the potatoes and put them in a bag (we happened to have a steam bag, but if you don't, a thick ziploc bag will do). Microwave the potatoes, estimating 4 minutes per potato. Then, remove and mash like normal! Saves a lot of time, instead of boiling or baking.

And voila, that's it! Easy (once you have everything ready) and delicious! 

Now, you probably remember I said "Light" in the title? Well, this actually does have a very light taste. By adding more water and tomato, I diluted the taste of any spices or the Guinness. If you want a stronger taste, simply use less water. Since it was my first time cooking it, I decided to be safe rather than sorry.

I hope you enjoy this Guinness Stew! Let me know of any variations you have tried, or what you think of this one!

I'm so lucky to have little helpers around! Especially ones whose noses reach right to the bottom of the can :-)