Weekend Cooking: Irish Stew

In honor of St. Patrick's Day coming up, I thought I would share my recipe for Irish Stew.  This recipe is for four but can easily be amended for more or less people.  It is also a hearty stew that is quite filling!

If you would like to join in on Weekend Cooking, please jump over to Beth Fish Reads for all of the details of this wonderful meme!

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs. lean stew beef

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

pinch salt and ground black pepper to taste

pinch cayenne pepper

1 onion chopped

¼ clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon tomato paste

1 cup of Guinness beer

1 ½ cups chopped carrots

¼ sprig of fresh thyme

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (if you like)

Directions:

1.       Toss the beef cubes with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Toss the beef in this to coat.

2.       Heat the remaining oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef, and brown on all sides. Add the onions, and garlic. Stir the tomato paste into a small amount of water to dilute; pour into the pan and stir to blend. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.

3.       Pour 1/2 cup of the beer into the pan, and as it begins to boil, scrape any bits of food from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. This adds a lot of flavor to the broth. Pour in the rest of the beer, and add the carrots and thyme. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Slainte!