This Weather is Driving me Crazy!

The weather is really driving me crazy here in NY. One minute it is 80+ degrees and the next it is in the 60s...make up your mind mother nature. I just refuse to turn on the AC in OCTOBER!

Well lucky for me that it is now raining and cold because my husband request beef stew for dinner one night. It just wouldn't be the same yummy stew eating it when it is hot outside. I also wanted to try to make the below stew recipe for another reason. Mike informed me a month or so ago that his office has a soup/stew cook off challenge thing every year around the Superbowl...I even think they have a cheesy name for it like The Super Bowl...lol.

The recipe comes from Heidi (I don't know where she got it from) and ever since she made it my Mike has been asking for it. Mind you he never tried it but just the name alone had him drooling for it.

Beef and Guinness Stew
Ingredients:
2 lb boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup beef broth
1 cup Guinness or other Irish stout
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 or 2 fresh rosemary sprig

Instructions:
Pat beef dry. Stir together flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Add beef, turning to coat, then shake off excess and transfer to a plate.

Heat oil in a wide heavy pot over moderately high heat until just smoking, then brown meat in 3 batches, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes per batch, transferring to a bowl.

Add onion, garlic, and water to pot and cook, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pot and stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.

Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beef with any juices accumulated in bowl, broth, beer, Worcestershire sauce, and rosemary and bring to a simmer, then cover.

Cook a few hours on a low heat. I added some veggies to it the last hour and then some potatoes the last half hour.


Notes:
You might also want to add some corn starch or flour to thicken the stew.

Review: I really liked it and would defiantly make it again. I used a very large pot because it looked like a lot of meat and I wasn't sure of the amount it would yield. Next time I would use the smaller stock pot I have as the only thing I would do different. I added carrots, peas and potatoes at the end which were all great additions. I also used 1 whole can of the beer instead of the 1 cup...since it was mid-afternoon I didn't feel like finishing the beer.