Commememuchos: Beef and Guiness Stew

Adapted from a pie recipe kindly offered by Commememuchos.

Up to 25 grammes of wheat or wheat free flour

900g of veal or beef cut into inch squares

25 grammes of butter (about an ounce for the oldies like me)

1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil

2 large onions thinly sliced

2 large carrots cut in 1 to 1.5 cm slices

2 teaspoons of Worcester sauce or sherry vinegar or red wine

2 teaspoons tomato puree

500mls Guinness or other strong dark beer

300mls meat stock ( or use stock cubes. The Italian make Star do particularly good ones available from Amazon for about double the price from getting them in Italy. Thanks Alexandra for the tip!)

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons water

salt and pepper to taste

Method

You will need a large stove top casserole dish eg Le Creuset or similar. A sturdy large saucepan will do.

In a large bowl put in the flour and salt and pepper. Mix.

Coat the meat cubes in this.

In your casserole dish or large saucepan heat the butter and oil over a low heat till the butter has melted and then turn up the heat and sear the meat in batches. Once done set aside. This stage always takes rather a long time. It is good to listen to podcasts or music doing this.

Now fry the onion and carrots gently for about two minutes.

Add back the meat to the casserole dish and season with Worcester sauce, tomato puree, Guinness, hot meat broth and sugar. Add black pepper and salt. Bring to a boil.

Now cover the casserole and turn down the heat to a simmer for about 2 hours.

Casseroles are always tastier the next day but can be eaten immediately.