Christmas 2010 (Steak and Guinness Stew)

Well I have many good excuses for not keeping up with the blog as much as I had hoped for at the beginning of the year.  It has been a tough few months and what precious little time I have had to myself, sitting down again in front of the computer just didn't appeal.  That's not to say that I haven't been cooking as I have been cooking but not with the same sense of adventure, more about convenience cooking and tried and tested favourites.

Christmas however is a time for getting back into the kitchen.  It's a time when you have no alternative but to don that apron and start amassing the dishes necessary to make for a good Christmas.  There are several days to provide for and not just that but all the 'down-time' eating that is as essential to the Festive period as the main meals themselves.

The stew reducing on the hob

We had divided up the responsibilities for Christmas amongst the family/families.  We were having the in-laws round on Christmas Eve (Lisa's family) and due at my father's in the morning.  Christmas Eve dinner is a tricky one.  You want something that is worthy of an occasion, simple in that it doesn't take up too much time and also nor excessively rich seeing as this is the first evening in a long run of potentially heart attack inducing meals.  The obvious choice, especially with the Irish Connection, a good old fashioned Beef and Guinness stew with added puff pastry lids, served with creamy mashed potato and Savoy cabbage.

As with all good stews it has to be made the day before it's eaten.  This is a very simple recipe and requires very little in the way of skill.  Provided you can you use a knife you can make this dish.

Ingredients for 6 people
2lb of stewing steak (remove any sinews, keep the white fat)
1lb of mushrooms
1/2lb of lardons
2 heaped table spoons of tomato purée
1 bouquet garni
2 Bay leaves
1 pint of beef stock
4 large carrots in batons
2 sticks of celery batons
2 large onions cut into 1/8ths
2 cans of Guinness (2 pints roughly)
Seasoning
1 teaspoon of brown sugar

Once you have trimmed the meat and cut the vegetables up you add everything to the pot at the same time, no need to brown the meat and fry the onions.  I also added the juice left over from re-hydrating the Ceps (Porcini Mushrooms) and Slippery Jacks (which I had picked in the Autumn in Devon) which were going to be used in the pate I was going to make next.  You preheat the oven and add the dish.  This is cooked for about 3 hours on a relatively low heat of around 160 degrees.

The tomato and the lardons give this recipe a really rich finish, perhaps a little French influence to a British dish but the resulting depth of flavour is well worth it.

When it comes to eating, reheat on the hob without the lid and reduce the liquid content so you have a more intense flavour and reduce the amount of liquid to get the sauce to the right consistency.  Now you can either put in a pie dish and add a pastry lid or serve as a stew.