Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Not just a day for green beer and “kiss me I’m Irish” pins, but also a great day to enjoy some authentic Irish cooking – like corned beef on rye or Irish stew. Stew is especially a favourite this time of year when winter is still dragging on. It’s such a great comfort food that you can slow cook all day in the crock pot and enjoy as soon as you get home.
Slow cooking takes great ingredients, prepared thoughtfully, and brings out the flavours and integrity of the meat and vegetables. Never Enough Thyme’s casseroles are based on the same idea. But while such slow cooking requires time and patience, now everyone has that luxury.
A favorite addition to soups and casseroles in our house is my dumplings or cheddar tea biscuits. And with hearty enough ingredients, a soup can be a full meal instead of just an appetizer, as it has traditionally been known as. Historically, the Irish have been known for economic food choices: potatoes, cabbage, pork, corned beef – these are all inexpensive food choices, and happen to be in season in the winter.
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day today means enjoying my favourite beer. Guinness is a fabulous dark beer with rich undertones. Locally, Block 3 in St. Jacobs is sure to have a great substitution. Beer, and Guinness in particular, is a wonderful addition to stew, French onion soup, cakes and breads.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Irish Stew
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. stewing beef or diced chuck
- 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 diced onion
- 2 chopped garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp. water
- 1 ½ tbsp. tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup Guinness or local stout beer (feel free to enjoy the rest in a mug!)
- 1 tbsp. Worcestershire
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
Potato layer:
- 2 Yukon gold potatoes
- ½ sliced cooking onion
- 2 tsp. chopped thyme
- salt and pepper for seasoning
Instructions
- Pat diced beef dry with a paper towel, season well with salt and pepper and dredge the beef in flour.
- Heat oil in a heavy bottomed oven safe pan on medium to high. The pan should be hot but not smoking. You will need to brown meat in 2-3 batches.
- Once all sides of the cube is browned, place in a bowl until all browning is done. If the pan becomes too hot just reduce the heat or remove the pot from the burner.
- Add onion, garlic and herbs to the pan and pick up the caramelized bits on the bottom of the pan. Deglaze with beer and water, stirring well with a wooden spoon.
- Add in the beef broth, Worcestershire and tomato paste. Stir in the pan seared beef, bring to a slow simmer. The stew may be moved to a crock pot on low all day, or to a 325 oven, or simmer on top of the stove on low for 1 ½ hours.
- Check the seasoning midway. As the stew thickens and develops, it may need more salt and pepper.
- In a bowl place sliced potato, sliced onion, salt and pepper, toss in vegetable oil.
- Carefully layer on top of the stew and cover with foil. Allow to bake for another 30 minutes in the oven at 350. The potato should be tender when you pull off the foil. Bake for 10 minutes uncovered and serve.
Cheddar Herb Cheese Biscuit
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ cup butter
- ¾ cups buttermilk
- ¼ cup shredded cheddar
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cracked pepper and butter.
- Cut the butter into the flour mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add the buttermilk all at once and stir in the cheese. The dough will seem quite sticky.
- Using an ice cream scoop, place the dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake in oven at 375 F for 12-15 minutes. Bake until golden and baked through.
Image: Apolonia / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
