Beef & Beer Stew

Friday night we gave up pizza night for this. It was so worth it though. Don't worry we only postponed pizza night by one night!

I bought beef stew blocks. I don't know what it's called really. Those ready cut up blocks of meat. It means I don't have to worry about buying the wrong piece of meat like for steak because I still don't know which is the right part of the cow to buy.

Half way through making the stew I tasted a piece of meat and it was so tough and chewy. I thought it's going to be a disaster but at least I would have tried. I let it simmer for a full 3 hours and then another half an hour just for luck. And the meat was falling apart it was so soft! It was amazing!! You have to try this recipe. For a change I followed the recipe exactly and I wouldn't change a thing. Well maybe add some mushrooms next time, but really it didn't need anything more.

So if you want to impress somebody with a good hearty meal on a cold evening when you haven't actually done any cooking all week and feeling just a little guilty about that fact, try this one.

I had half the amount of meat the recipe used so I roughly halved about everything. It was more than enough for the two of us with some left overs. So here's the halved recipe I used:

Ingredients:

800 g beef blocks (The recipe calls it chuck roast if that means anything to you? It didn't to me.)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 T butter

2 onions, sliced

1 1/2 T flour

3/4 C chicken or beef broth (I used beef)

3/4 C Belgian beer ( I used Swiss Appenzeller)

2 sprigs fresh Thyme (I didn't have so just added some mixed dried herbs)

2 bay leaves

1/2 T whole grain mustard

1/2 T brown sugar

And here's what you do, it's really easy, like all the things I make!

1. Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Then melt 1 T butter and wait for it to get really really hot. You want to have it on med-high heat. Brown the meat in batches and remove from pot when you've done it all. Oh, the recipe said not to stir. Just let one side brown well, about 3 min, then turn over to brown the other side for another 3 min. I actually timed each side!

2. Add another tablespoon of butter to the pot to melt. I know, lots of butter. Normally I wouldn't use butter, but I just wanted it to be good this time and maybe it was the butter, well margarine, that made all the difference. You want medium heat now for the onions. Add the chopped onions with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Brown the onions, about 15 min. Again I timed it! Not my way of doing it normally!

Add the flour and stir about 2 min until it starts to brown slightly and the onions are well covered by the flour.

3. Stir in the broth and scrape the bottom to get all that burnt onion bits in the sauce.

Add the beer and give your husband or whoever you're going to impress with this meal the rest of the beer. Then add the thyme, bay leaves and the browned meat and if there's any juice that has accumulated in your bowl with the meat add that too. You can add more salt and pepper, but I didn't. I didn't want to over do it and in the end it didn't need any more anyway.

Increase the heat to get everything to a good simmer. Then reduce the heat to low, partially cover and let it all simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally to scrape the bits sticking to the bottom of the pot.

4. About half an hour before serving, add the mustard and brown sugar.

I served it with mashed potatoes and veggies. You can also serve it on rice, noodles, french fries. Whatever you like! But I like it with mash. The mash is just good for the meat and sauce.