Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Double Chocolate Stout Beef & Lamb Stew

Beef stew is one of my favorite comfort foods. With St. Patrick's Day around the corner I decided to put a little Irish spin on this homestyle favorite by adding lamb and using stout in the sauce. Thom insisted my stew was more of a soup and thus, after a lengthy discussion betwixt mouthfuls of mashed potatoes and wiping away the juices dribbling down our chin we agreed to refer to it between ourselves as stoup.


And really, you can call it AnabanaMushPie for all I care - the end result is still delicious. Thick chunks of beef and lamb, sweet pieces of carrot and leek, earthy turnips and mushrooms, and mixing the saucy stoup gravy with the mashed potatoes!... oh, oh!... I could nosh on that all day! This stew pairs really well with either beer or red wine. We enjoyed a lovely Côtes du Rhône with ours - feel free to add a little extra wine in the sauce!

Double Chocolate Stout Beef & Lamb Stew (Stoup)
2 slices bacon, chopped
2.5lbs beef and lamb stew meat, cubed (ratio up to you. I used two-thirds beef to one-third lamb).
1 cup Young's Double Chocolate Stout
1 cup shallots, minced
1/2 cup celery, fine dice + 1 cup celery, large dice
1/2 cup carrot, fine dice + 2 cups carrot, large dice
1 cup leeks, sliced
1 cup turnips, large dice
1 pint mushrooms, sliced
1 can tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bouquet garni with rosemary added to the bundle. 
1 quart beef stock
1/2 cup red wine ~ optional

Preheat oven to 375º F.

Prepare all ingredients ahead of time. Make sure your large dice vegetables are all approximately the same size to ensure even cooking.

Place a dutch oven on top of stove over medium heat. Cook bacon until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain. Season beef and lamb cubes with salt and pepper. Sear in batches until all pieces are well browned. I keep a large bowl handy for transferring pieces while cooking. If you dump everything in at once the meat will release a lot of liquid and you'll end up boiling the meat instead of searing it.

Remove meat and sear off mushrooms. Add the finely diced shallots, carrots, and celery. Saute. Deglaze pan with the stout. Add back meat, bacon, any collected juices, and all remaining ingredients. Cover and place in oven. Bake for 90 minutes to two hours, or until vegetables are tender. The turnips will take the longest. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Remove bouquet garni before serving.

Now, I love my stew with mashed potatoes, but if you really want a one pot meal add diced potatoes to the stew when you add the turnips and large diced carrots and celery.

Garnish with chopped parsley and serve hot.


This is a perfect potluck meal and should definitely be followed with Chocolate Stout & Bailey's Whoopie Pies.  

Sláinte!

18 comments:

  1. I've been reading a lot of stout recipes lately, yours is the most interesting. never thought of chocolate in a stew. thanks for inspiration

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  2. Ooh droolworthy!!!I love all the veggies in there too..very flavorful,wholesome and comforting, Jess!!I bet it tasted great with mashed potatoes!

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  3. You could thicken the sauce, either by removing most from the pot & cooking it down, then adding it back. Or you do a corn starch(or arrowrroot) slurry with some of the stout and adding it into the sauce. The bacon gives it nice smoky notes.
    Bunny

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    1. Or you could add a roux. I didn't find the sauce watery. I find my husband nit-picky. :)

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  4. Jessica,
    Your stew is marvelous, especially with the chocolate stout and all the veggies. My husband would love this. We might have to make this for St. Patrick's Day!

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    1. Thanks Becky! Let me know how it goes if you end up making it.

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  5. Hi Jessica, What a lovely recipe! This stew looks irresistible :)A fabulous way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Have a great week ahead!

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  6. What a flavourful meal! I like the ingredients. I wouldn't have thought to add lamb - brilliant. Lovely combination! Yaay for bacon! <3

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  7. Delicious combination of flavours. i was reading Chocolate stout recipes in fine cooking magazine. Yours is quite interesting.

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  8. Jessica, this really sounds tasty, I am going to try the sprouts in mine the next time, I love them. Very nice guest post also over at Kiri's.

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  9. I like how you've added both beef and lamb. I know that lamb is traditional in Irish stew but I'm more comfortable using beef so it's nice to have both!

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    1. I agree - while I love lamb the stew meat can be gamey (more mutton than lamb) so it's nice to have the beef to balance the flavors.

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  10. oh this sounds awesome...a really great dish for celebrating st. patrick's day! i love that you used both beef and lamb!

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  11. Double Chocolate Stout!?! Goodness, this stew sounds yummy already. I love that you used a combination of beef and lamb too. Great recipe Jessica! x

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