Guinness Beef Stew with Mushrooms & Carrots

Last Sunday was dark and stormy here in Fort Lauderdale. My favorite team, the New England Patriots, was playing the 4:00 game against also-undefeated Dallas. I felt like having something to putter over in the kitchen. What else could possibly be as good as Guinness Beef Stew?

I’ve made a version of this before, and I thought it was on this blog. A little research told me that there was not in fact a Guinness stew entry here, and I couldn’t find a recipe I might have used in any of my cookbooks. Did I dream it? It doesn’t matter because I started from scratch, using a recipe in Cooking Light as a model, and came up with a recipe I really like.

You’re going to need about two and a half hours, start to finish. But it's nothing very strenuous, and then you can just sit back and wait for your house to smell great. I wanted to serve this with my beloved Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread, so I kept the stew on the slightly lighter side by not adding potatoes. Instead, I used a lot of mushrooms and carrots--more nutrition with less starch. If you want to use potatoes, just decrease the quantity of these two and go right ahead. You want to give the soda bread at least two hours to cool completely, so either make it before you start the stew, or do it the night before or in the morning. It’s a super-simple quick bread, and it makes your Irish-themed meal complete--especially with a sweet, unsalted Irish butter like Kerrygold.

My team won, and my stew was delicious. And knowing I’d have even more delicious leftovers during the week made it a perfect Sunday. If beef stew doesn't float your boat right now, take a look at my Curried Lamb and Lentil Stew or my Provencal Lamb Stew with White Wine.


Guinness Beef Stew with Mushrooms and Carrots
Of course Guinness is not the only kind of stout, but it’s the best and most readily available. I’ve been trying a lot of different brands of beef and chicken broth, and I think Swanson’s tastes the best. They make an organic version if you prefer. Fresh thyme is really nice here (for both stew and garnish), so don’t skip it if at all possible. Like all stews, this tastes great gently reheated in the next day or two.

Serves 6

2 to 3 tbs. canola oil, divided use
2 lb. button or cremini mushrooms, halved if large
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp. dried thyme, divided
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary, divided
2 cups chopped white or yellow onion
4 to 5 garlic cloves, minced
All-purpose flour, for dredging meat
cayenne pepper or paprika
2 to 2 1/2 lb. lean beef stew meat (or sirloin), cut into bite-sized pieces
1 Guinness draft can (or one bottle)
32 oz. low-sodium beef broth (I like Swanson’s)
2 dried bay leaves
4 large carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
Fresh thyme sprigs for serving (optional)

Heat 1/2 tbs. oil in a Dutch oven or large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add half the mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, half the thyme and rosemary, and cook until soft and browned. The mushrooms will release their water after a few minutes. Keep cooking, stirring often, until the water evaporates, even if they already look done to you. Remove mushrooms to a large bowl and repeat with remaining mushrooms.

Heat 1/2 tbs. oil in the pot and add the onions. Season with salt and pepper and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for two more minutes, stirring often. Add to the bowl with the mushrooms.

Add about 1/2 cup flour to a shallow bowl or plate and season with salt, pepper and cayenne or paprika. Coat the meat with flour, shaking off excess, and placing the pieces of meat on a baking sheet as you go. Heat 1/2 tbs. oil in the pot to medium-high heat. Add half the beef, season with more salt and pepper, and cook for about 6 minutes, using tongs to turn the meat and brown on all sides. Transfer meat and any juices to plate or bowl. Repeat with remaining meat.

Add Guinness to the pot, scraping up an brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add broth, bay leaves, and all the beef with its juices. Cover, and as soon as the stew begins to bubble, reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer. Cook for 1 hour.

Add the carrots, thyme leaves, and the mushroom mixture to the stew. Simmer, uncovered for 45 minutes. Check the carrots; if they are not tender yet, continue cooking. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls, garnish with thyme sprigs and serve.

There's a lot of tasty stuff stewing on my favorite food blogs:

Jumbo Empanada's Venison Stew a la Bri
Orangette's Chicken Stew
The Perfect Pantry's Root Vegetables with Beef Stew
Simply Recipes' Short Rib Beef Stew with Ale
Kalyn's Kitchen's Mediterranean Beef Stew with Rosemary
Chocolate and Zucchini's Beef Stew with Root Vegetables
The Wednesday Chef's Jennifer McLagan's Aromotic Chinese Oxtail Stew

Technorati Tags: recipes, stew, beef, guinness, Main Course

Provencal Lamb Stew with White Wine

Mmmm, stew. I love a meal like this on a Sunday night, or any night when you have a little time to let a pot of something sit on the stove at a bare simmer.

That's the key to great stew meat--besides browning it well--never let the stew come to a boil. It's too traumatic. The meat will cook immediately and miss the chance to become moist and tender. Just remember the expression, "stew on this." As you would ruminate thoughtfully over an important issue, so you have give this stew the time to arrive, slowly, at its delicious conclusion.

Happily, in this recipe, that slow stewing process only amounts to about an hour of cooking time. And the important stuff--like building the rich, stew-y flavor--happens in a flash before the simmering gets underway. You will brown the meat in two batches, so as not to crowd the pot, saving all the juices as you go. You'll saute aromatics like onion, garlic and dried herbs. You'll add flour before the liquid to cook away it's raw taste and set your stew up for an amazing thick texture. And finally, you'll add a nice glug of wine for complex flavor.

In much of the US (though not here), it's getting cooler. This is the perfect early fall stew--hearty and warming without being a total capitulation to Fall's chilly hands. Bright white wine, lots of aromatics and fava beans (you can find the frozen ones year round!) keep it light. But for Mike and me, eating it in 90-degree Florida heat is not a problem. Stew it up tonight!

Provencal Lamb Stew with White Wine
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Savoring Provence
As you can see, the wine is an important component in this recipe. I used a medium-bodied off-dry blend, and I think it was successful. Avoid 100% chardonnay, and look for blends that have some chardonnay, reisling, sauvignon blanc, or semillon. 100% Sauvignon Blanc should work, but a blend will not be as dry. If you don't eat parsnips often, know that they are bitter, but they are the perfect contrast to the rich stew. Don't skip the shallots--although they practically disappear, they add their sharply aromatic taste and work as a thickener.

Serves 3-4

1 tbs. butter, divided
1 tbs. olive oil, divided
4 pound piece boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat, cut into bit-size chunks, and patted dry with paper towel
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
salt and pepper
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
2 tbs. flour
1 cup off-dry white wine (I used “7 Sisters," a blend of Chard./Reisling/Gewurtztraminer/Viognier found at Whole Foods)
1 14 oz. can chicken broth (I used Whole Foods regular organic)
pinch of sugar
1 1/4 cup baby carrots
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 or 2 whole shallots, divided into segments and cut into halves or quarters
3/4 cup frozen, shelled fava beans (or use fresh favas, fresh peas, or frozen peas)
fresh thyme leaves, for garnish
fresh chopped parsley, for garnish
Crusty bread, for serving

In a large soup pot with a lid (I used nonstick) or Dutch oven, heat half the butter and half the olive oil to medium-high. Add half the lamb to the pot and sear the chunks of meat, seasoning with salt and pepper, until browned on both sides. Remove the meat and all the juices in the pot to a bowl. Sear the rest of the lamb in the same manner, this time adding the browned meat to the bowl, and leaving some of the juices in the pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until soft and lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Return the meat and all the juices to the pot. Add the dried thyme, rosemary and flour. Stir to combine and continue cooking until the flour has coated the meat and browned a bit, about 2 minutes. There should not be any white visible. Add the wine and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring often, to reduce slightly, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Do not let the stew boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and maintain a gentle simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the sugar, carrots, parsnips and shallots. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if you like. Cover and continue to simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until parsnips are tender. Add the fava beans, cover and simmer for about 8 minutes. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve with crusty bread.

Wine Note: You could drink the white wine you used in the stew, but we liked it best with an earthy, medium-bodied red from Portugal (Prazo de Roriz).

Bonus! Here's another lamb stew I just remembered writing about a while back: Curried Lamb and Lentil Stew.

Technorati Tags: recipes, stew, lamb, Main Course