Irish Beef Stew ~

I found this recipe Feb. 2005 surfing the net.  It's from Gelson's Recipes, Gelson's "The Super Market," located in California.  Their version of the recipe is more of a stew and mine revised isn't as thick - I choose to double the recipe and add more broth.  So the outcome is between a thicker stew - semi soup.  I've made it both ways and the flavor is wonderful either way you choose.

Irish Beef Stew

Ingredients:

2 TB extra virgin olive oil - I used grapeseed oil
3 bay leaves
1 & 1/2 lbs lean stew meat - I cut up a 7 blade roast I found on sell
1 large yellow onion, sliced in 1/4 inch slices
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp dried thyme or 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme (I used fresh)
1 tsp dried rosemary or 1 1/2 fresh rosemary (I used fresh)
1 cup beef stock homemade or purchased*
12 oz Irish Stout, I used Guinness Extra
1 TB chopped parsley
3/4 lb carrots, sliced
1 lb white potatoes, quartered - I used the small creamy whites and quartered
1/2 lb cabbage coarsely chopped (about 1/4 head)
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1.  Heat 6 quart stove top casserole pan - add oil and bay leaves.  Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute then add 1/2 meat.  Brown on all sides then put aside - repeating with second TB oil and the rest of the stew meat.  (I used a large skillet and brown all meat at the same time. I planned on using the pressure cooker.  If I hadn't I would have followed the same instructions though I would have used a large pot or dutch oven).

2.  Put all meat together back in pan/pot add sliced onion - cook for a few minutes until onion is translucent.  (I did took all the meat out and placed in pressure cooker - then cooked onion a bit in skillet adding flour and coating step 3).

3.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add garlic, thyme, rosemary, and flour- stirring well until ingredients are coated.  (I added all the rest of the ingredients to pressure cooker and stirred to mix setting the cooker for 30 minutes).

4.  Add stock, simmer, stirring until the stew thickens.

5.  Add remaining ingredients and cover.

*I doubled the recipe requiring 2 cups of broth - I changed that to 4 cups (32 oz) keeping the scout at 2 12 oz bottles or a little less in remembrance of Julia Childs. . . lol

This is a keeper!  The thing I noticed with this recipe the flavor is so delicious that I would use the broth and the stout to make French Onion Soup.  Yummy!!