Irish Stew with Guinness Stout

Had a great St. Patrick's Day, went out for lunch with my sweetie, we each had 1/2 of a lean corned beef sandwich and a bowl of cabbage soup from the Embers Deli at Maple & Lahser, they have the best corned beef.

At home I made a beef Irish Stew by browning, in batches, seasoned and floured beef chunks in a Dutch Oven, (2 1/2 lbs. from a chuck roast I bought at Kroger), in hot olive oil. I removed the browned cubes to a platter while browning the other batches.

Kroger had a buy one get one free offer so it was really inexpensive, I had to cube it , but it was worth the effort and I put the other one in the freezer for future use.

Then in the same pan I added 3 coarsely chopped onions, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and 3 T of tomato paste and sauteed until soft.

I added back the browned meat with any juices and added 1 1/4 C of Guinness, to the stew, not me, that was later, 1 1/2 C of beef broth, really a whole can of Swanson reduced sodium broth, 2 C of sliced carrots, 10 small potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks, a large sprig of thyme and 2 bay leaves. S & P to taste.

You can then place in 325 oven for 1 1/2 hours or the stove top, which I did, on medium. For the last 1/2 hour add 1 cup of, yes, pitted prunes. This added another layer of flavor to the stew. We all really liked it.

I served in bowls, over mashed potatoes and topped with fresh chopped parsley. Even better the second day.

This recipe was from the Detroit Free Press and was adapted by them from Ballymaloe Cookery School and http://www.startcooking.com/.