Chef notes
The perfect dish for St Patrick's Day, you can serve this as a stew or take it one step further and use it as the filling for an impressive pie. Make sure the meat is tender before serving and remember that different cuts of meat will take longer cooking times.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 1/5 pounds beef shoulder, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
- 2/3 cup beef stock
- 2 cups Irish stout, like Guinness
- 1 bay leaf
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (optional)
- Mashed potatoes or crusty bread, for serving
Preparation
1.In a large pot, heat the oil and brown the meat in two batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Remove and set aside on a plate. Add another drop of oil if you need it, then fry off the onion, carrots and celery. Add the meat back into the pot along with the garlic.
2.Pour in the stock, stout, bay leaf and season with the salt and pepper. Simmer gently for about 1½ hours until the liquid has reduced.
3.If the sauce isn't thick enough, strain the juices into a bowl and then transfer to a small sauce pan. Then mix a little of the sauce with the flour over high heat until you have a smooth paste, then whisk through the rest of the liquid. Simmer gently until you have a thickened sauce, then add the thickened sauce over the meat.
4.Serve with mashed potatoes or crusty bread.
