Guinness beef stew

Tis the season, isn’t it? We really don’t do much to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but I thought I would cook up a few Irish-inspired meals this week. Did anyone catch Bobby Flay’s Ireland special on Food Network on Saturday? I thought it was a little painful to watch, personally. I could have done better.

Sundays are perfect for slow-cooking meals for the week, and so I spent much of yesterday cooking a Guinness Beef Stew, with some 100% Irish daffodils to brighten the room.

The most important ingredient in Guinness beef stew is, of course, the Guinness. One 11 ounce bottle went into this stew, and while bottled Guinness would normally horrify my husband, this was actually pretty good.

Before getting started on the stew, I gathered the rest of the ingredients.

A bag of peeled pearl onions

10 small potatoes, cut into eighths

About 24 ounces of organic beef broth

A few teaspoons of Kerrygold butter for the roux

Eight carrots, chopped into pieces, as close to the same size as the potatoes as possible

And of course, all natural stew beef

I started with a roux of butter and flour, waiting until I could smell that lovely brown butter aroma made when the flour starts to cook.

And then I just started adding all of the ingredients, pouring the Guinness in last. I seasoned with a grind of salt, two grinds of pepper, a dash of garlic powder and a dash of crushed red pepper.

The stew cooked for four hours. This is actually key when it comes to using stew meat because it is tougher and really breaks down over the course of several hours on low heat.

While the stew cooked, I did Jillian Michael’s Yoga Meltdown. I am not a Jillian Michaels fan at all, and I sometimes get bored with yoga, but I actually really liked this workout. It was fast-paced and I could feel the burn while working out. I can’t wait to do it again!

While I don’t eat beef, I did, of course try the stew a few times while cooking. It was pretty amazing how different it tasted as it cooked along, the flavors getting richer and more complex with each hour. And the meat definitely started to fall apart. Most importantly, my husband loved it, and he has tons of leftovers for lunch. I may freeze a couple of servings for later as well.

In case you missed it this weekend, I started compiling all of my recipes in one place. Check it out if you get the chance!

Are you planning on doing anything or cooking anything special for St. Patrick’s Day?