Bensonhurst Kitchen: Guinness Beef Stew

As the weather continues to get colder, we all tend to appear more portly in our heavy coats and bulky sweaters. It’s only appropriate then that our beverages also reflect the change in seasons.

Guinness stout is a nearly pitch black Irish beer made with roasted barley malt and hops. Your humble blogger will often use a pint of the black stuff to fortify himself against the abrasive winter winds that come bellowing through our elevated subway stations at years end.

This week, Colleen uses the raven-hued brew as part of a hearty beef stew that will keep the fire in your belly stoked through the long, cold nights.

If you’re a big dipper, try some jalapeno cheddar cornbread in place of sliced bread or crackers for some added heat.

Enjoy!

Colleen’s Guinness Beef Stew

Ingredients:

2 lbs well marbled beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 large onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 1/2 cups Guinness

1 14.5 ounce can beef broth (preferably low sodium*)

2 cups chopped carrots

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 cups cubed red potatoes (skin on)

1/2 teaspoon of thyme

Directions:

In a bowl stir together the flour, salt, pepper and cayenne.

Toss the beef cubes in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and then dredge in flour

mixture.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large stock pot over

medium-high heat. Brown the beef cubes on all sides.

Stir tomato paste into a small amount of water to slightly dilute.  Add

tomato paste, onion and garlic to beef mixing just until incorporated.

Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Pour 1/2 cup of Guinness into the pan stirring to loosen any small pieces

of food stuck to the pan.

Add remaining beer, beef broth, carrots, celery, potatoes and thyme to the

pot.

Cover and reduce heat to low. Allowing the stew to simmer for 2 to 3 hours

stirring occasionally.

Add salt and pepper as needed before serving.

TIPS:

*When using canned beef broth your recipes can come out a little salty. When possible, use the low sodium canned beef broth so that you don’t have an overly salty stew. You can always add more salt to taste. If you use regular beef broth (or any canned broth), reduce the amount of salt in your recipe by at least half.

Recipe and tips by Colleen