Sam Linsell, top South African food personality and Drizzle and Dip blogger – has been cooking up a storm with beer again, this time creating a stout beer and mushroom stew.
Cooking notes:
You will need a heavy based casserole dish with a lid such as cast iron.
You can either simmer it on the stove as I did or braise it in the oven at 180C / 350F. If you are doing it on the stovetop, you must turn the heat down to its very lowest setting, as you do not want to boil the meat.
Ensure that you stir it every now and then to prevent bits sticking to the bottom. Season it a few times. It requires a fair bit of salt and pepper along the way.
Recipe – serves 4
Ingredients
· 6 Tbsp olive oil
· 500g good quality free range stewing beef cut into cubes
· 2 onions, chopped
· 2 carrots chopped
· 2 celery stalks, chopped
· 1 sprig thyme
· 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
· 3 bay leaves
· 4 level Tbsp flour
· 1 bottle / 340 ml Castle Milk Stout
· 1 cup beef stock
· 1 x 400gm tin chopped tomatoes
· 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
· Salt and pepper
· 250gm Portobello mushrooms, halved or quartered
Instructions
· Pat the meat cubes dry with paper towel to remove any excess blood or moisture.
· Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet or heavy based flat bottomed casserole dish that has a lid and fry half the beef until golden and caramelised on all sides (it doesn’t have to be cooked through). Repeat this by adding a second 2 tablespoons of olive oil and frying the remaining half of the meat. Remove and set aside.
· In the same pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the onions, carrots and celery with the herbs until softened and just starting to go brown. About 4 minutes. Add the flour and cook this for about a minute until all the oil has been soaked up and it is a paste like consistency.
· Add the stout and deglaze the pan scraping off any bits that may be stuck. Cook until most of the liquid has cooked off. Add the stock and continue to cook for another minute to thicken.
· Add the tin of tomatoes along with the browned meat and mushrooms. Add the Worcestershire sauce and a good few pinches of salt and pepper.
· You can then let this bubble away on your stovetop on very low heat or you can braise in the oven at 180 C/ 350 F. Keep it covered for the first 2 hours of cooking and then take off the lid for the last hour.
· As the stew is cooking make sure you give it a stir every 20 minutes or so to ensure nothing sticks and to adjust seasoning.