Valentine's Irish Beef & Guinness Stew

For Valentine's Day I made us Beef and Guinness Stew from the Irish cookbook (Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen) that Chris got me for Christmas, and it turned out delicious!  I halved the recipe, but wouldn't suggest doing so as it ended up being less than half.

Beef & Guinness Stew

2lb lean stewing beef

3 Tbs oil

2 Tbs all-purpose flour

salt, ground pepper, cayenne

2 large onions, chopped

1 large garlic clove, crushed

2 tbs tomato paste, dissolved in 4 Tbs of water

1 1/4 c. Guinness

3/4 c. chopped carrots

sprig of thyme

parsley

• Heat oven to 300 degrees.
• Trim the meat of fat and cut into 2 inch cubes, toss them in a bowl with 1 Tbs of oil.  Season flour with salt, ground pepper and cayenne to taste, toss the meat in the flour.
• Heat the remaining oil in a wide skillet over high heat.  Brown the meat on all sides, add onion, garlic, and tomato paste, cover, lower heat and cook gently for 5 minutes.  
• Transfer contents of pan to casserole (oven safe), pour some Guinness into the pan, boil and stir to caramelize meat juices, pour into the casserole with remaining Guinness.  
• Add carrots and thyme, cover with lid of casserole and cook in oven for 2-3 hours.
• Scatter with parsley and serve with champ, colcannon or mashed potatoes.  Drink the rest of the Guinness, if not already done :-)

Delicious!  Definitely a great Sunday meal and the whole house smelled wonderful!  (And dairy-free!)

I didn't expect to get chocolates, much less chocolates that I can't eat due to the dairy allergy...

Only to discover the trickster bought chocolates that I could eat and refilled the box!  The original chocolates were laid to rest in the trash... so thoughtful!

Happy dinner together!