Slow Cooker Irish Guinness Beef Stew
A hearty winter stew made with free range beef casserole cubes and Guinness, a perfect warming dish for chilly days.
Ingredients
- 1kg casserole cubes
- 2 - 3 cups of chicken bone broth
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 or 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 2 - 3 carrots
- 2 sticks of celery
- 2 potatoes
- 1 can of Guinness
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 brown onion
- 2 - 3 cloves of garlic
- 1- 2 tbsp flour (to thicken the sauce)
- 2 bay leaves
- A handful of mushrooms
- Butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Heat a lug of olive oil in a heavy based fry pan. Season casserole cubes with salt and pepper. Throw your casserole cubes into the hot pan (in batches if you need to - make sure it’s not too crowded or they won’t brown properly) and let them brown generously on all sides. This will give your meat a deeper flavour. Once all the pieces are nice and brown, remove and set aside.
- Chop the onions and garlic. Take the heat down to medium in your pan and add a chunk of butter (don’t add while it’s still super hot to make sure it doesn’t burn). Add the onions and garlic, then thyme, and fry until soft and beginning to caramelise. (Note that if you prefer, you can skip these steps and throw everything in the slow cooker - the flavour will just be a little different at the end).
- Transfer this, plus the meat and whole mushrooms, into your slow cooker.
- Chop carrots and potatoes into medium sized pieces and add to the slow cooker.
- Add tomato paste and flour and mix through.
- Pour in chicken bone broth, Guinness, plus 2 bay leaves and rosemary.
- Leave slow cooker to cook on high for 3 - 4 hours. It should be pretty tender by this point - if not, leave on for a bit longer.
- Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy!
