I’m always up for a celebration. So when St. Patrick’s Day arrives, I love to have a dish that pays homage to Irish history. Some of my discoveries along the way have included the ease of making soda bread, different preparations of corned beef, and, my favorite, how delicious chocolate and stout go together. This year, we will be enjoying this warming beef vegetable stew simmered with Guinness and beef broth.
Here’s a tip for simplifying the browning process: I place the cut-up, well-marbled chuck on a parchment-lined sheet pan. I season it with salt and pepper and add a sprinkling of Wondra flour to help thicken the sauce, then put it in a hot oven. That way I avoid the sautéing and extra oil. Everything else is cooked together, and the browned beef is added before a long simmer on low heat.
This is when it’s good to have a relationship with your butcher. I have found that the pre-cut stewing beef in the meat department can become dry and stringy, which no sauce can rescue. So now I ask my butcher to cut the beef chuck, making sure it has some fat streaked in it. If you do this, you will have a juicy, tender, and flavorful stew.
This braised beef takes an Irish turn with the slightly bitter Guinness beer inclusion. It is tempered with a touch of brown sugar. You can decide what veggies you want to include. Make sure the potatoes are very small. In this rendition, you’ll find sweet orange squash, potatoes, and vibrant green peas.
Serve this in shallow soup bowls and accompany it with a crusty, warm, sliced baguette. I like to serve a simple sliced fennel salad to begin. What to drink? Guinness, of course. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
