Beef and Ale Stew

Oh Spring, supposedly you're here, and when I look outside, it really looks like it!  Then I go outside.  And have to scurry in for my coat.  And scarf.  And normal shoes.  Ugh.  I was so looking forward to rocking some flipflops and being able to play outside for longer than 20 minutes! 

Alas, nature is not on my side.  The one benefit is that we can still rock out some stew!  (We live in one of those houses where certain foods are considered seasonal.  Kyle refuses to allow for hamburgers in Winter or lasagna and stew in Spring.  Personally, I could eat anything anytime, but I've got to respect his quirks.  And go out for hamburgers when I want one in Winter!)

We've visited a recipe similar to this before when I shared my beef beerguinon recipe, but this one has a lot less steps and takes some seriously minimal effort.  I used one of my favorite chefs, Jamie Oliver, for this one (thank you Food Revolution!), and added my own little twist.

Beef and Ale Stew
serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 stalks celery
• 2 medium onions
• 2 carrots
• olive oil
• 1 heaped tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 x 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes (or if you don't like chunky tomatoes, tomato puree)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups brown ale, Guinness or stout (I used Terrapin Brown IPA)
• 3 fresh or dried bay leaves
• optional:  1 cup diced tomatoes, 2 cups peas, 4 medium potatoes- red or yukon gold.

Instructions:

• If using the oven to cook your stew, preheat it to 350-degrees
• Trim the ends off your celery and roughly chop the stalks
• Peel and roughly chop the onions
• Peel the carrots (I was lazy and didn't do this), slice lengthways, and roughly chop
• Put a Dutch oven on a medium heat
• Put all the vegetables and your bay leaves into the pan with 2 lugs of olive oil and fry for 10 minutes
• Add your meat and flour
• Pour in the booze and canned tomatoes/puree
• Give it a good stir, then season with a teaspoon of sea salt (less if using table salt) and a few grinds of pepper
• Bring to a boil, put the lid on, and either simmer slowly on your cooktop or cook in an oven for three hours.
• Remove the lid for the final hour of simmering/cooking and add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry
• When done, your meat should be tender and delicious
• Remove bay leaves before serving and taste to see if it needs more salt and pepper.

Here's where I deviated from Jamie...

I cooked some quartered potatoes in olive oil, garlic and onion powder and stirred them in with the stew when there was an hour of cooking left.

Since Kyle hates chunky tomatoes, I put them at the bottom of Laela and my bowls so we'd have them, and just poured the stew on top.

I also added some peas to the bottom of Laela and my stew, because well, I always like something green, and I had a hankering for peas.

This meal is delicious, and it just gets better with each passing day!

Yorkshire Pudding and Beef Beerguinon

I'm a big fan of beef bourguinon, so when I found myself craving it the other day, with no time to go to the store and get some red wine, I raided the fridge and found the following:

Beef Beerguinon

1lb Sirloin tip

2 Carrots (chopped)
2 Large Yukon gold potatoes (quartered)
1 Onion (diced) (I prefer red onons, but any will do)
4 pieces of quality, thick cut bacon

1 crushed clove of garlic

1 bottle of Guinness, Yards Brawler, Boulder Cold Hop or any deep flavored beer of your choice

1 1/2 cup beef broth

1 can of tomato paste

2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs of finely diced rosemary

1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)

1 tsp pepper
1 tsp parsley

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cut (I like to use scissors) the bacon into one inch pieces. Cook the bacon to medium (you don't want it too crispy, when you cook it with everything else, you want it to get all yummy and to almost dissolve into the stew).  Some recipes tell you to blanch the bacon for a few minutes, and while it is good to do this, sometimes you just don't have the time, and it really doesn't make that much of a difference in this recipe.  After the bacon is cooked, toss it into the heavy casserole pan/heavy bottomed dutch oven.  DON"T DUMP YOUR BACON GREASE!!  Keep it in the pan, and leave the pan on

med-low heat.

If you have the time, it really brings out the flavor of the meat if you can brown the sides of it in the already hot bacon fat.  ONLY brown them though, you're not trying to cook the meat, just get it a light outer cooking.

When the meat is browned, add it to the bacon.  If you don't have time to brown your meat, don't fret.  The stew will still taste great, and the world will not end.  I'm only suggesting it because it makes it taste just a smidge better.

Carmelize your onions.  Add them to the meat and bacon.  Then, quarter your potatoes and chop your carrots.  Give them a quick sautee in the bacon fat (if you're beginning to lose some fat, just add a bit of water and a Tb of butter.  You're not trying to cook them fully, you're just getting them some flavor, and a bit of crust.  This should only take about two minutes.  Add them to the bacon and meat.

Now pour your beer over the bacon, meat and veggies.  Next, pour the broth over the mixture.  You want the meat and veggies to be completely covered, but not entirely submerged.  Mix in the salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, rosemary and parsley.

Put the lid on and pop at the lowest rack in the oven for 3 hours.  You'll know it's done when the meat is fork tender.

This recipe only takes 15 minutes to prepare.  It's the waiting that makes me crazy!  The great thing about this is that you can make this the night before and it tastes even better reheated.

Something I love to make with these are Yorkshire Puddings.  I found them in my new Jamie Oliver cookbook and man oh man are they a great pairing for this stew!

Yorkshire Pudding
makes 12

3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
a pinch of sea salt
1 1/4 cups milk
vegetable oil

To prepare your Yorkshires:
Whisk the eggs, flour, salt and milk together really well in a bowl to make your batter.
Pour the batter into a jug and put to one side to rest for 30 minutes before you use it- this will help to make it smoother, giving you wonderfully light and crispy puddings.

Cooking your Yorkshires:
Turn the oven up to 475 degrees and let it preheat fully.
As it's warming up, put a muffin pan onto a cookie sheat and place on the top shelf of the oven.  When the oven is up to full temp, carefully remove the pan and sheet, close the oven dor, and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to each muffin hole in the muffin pan.
Pop the pan and sheet back into the oven for 5 minutes, until the oil is smoking hot.
Open the door and slide the shelf with the pan on the seet on it halfway out. 
Quickly fill each muffin hole with batter, then slide the shelf carefully back into the oven. 
Leave the door shut for at least 15 minutes, and don't open the door even once to check on them, otherwise they'll end up all sunken.
After 15 minutes, the Yorkshires will be crip and golden with a soft, fluffy center.

They pop out of the pan very easily, and taste delicious dipped in the stew (or gravy, or anything yummy you have on hand!)
Jamie recommends not washing the pan and using it just for your Yorkshires, as it'll just improve the
non-stick surface even more.

My family LOVED this!  I broke the Yorkshire pudding into pieces for Laela and sopped it in the broth and she loved her mushy, meaty, veggie goodness!  (and so did Kyle, he ate 4 puddings! haha)  Don't fear the long recipe, there's always fantastic leftovers, and it only gets better if it sits in the fridge for a day or two.