Bring the taste of the Irish home with this stew

A little bit of Irish surfaces every March around St. Patrick’s Day.

I’ve known people that go to Irish pubs once a year on this day just to drink green beer and eat Irish food. Those places tend to be quite busy this time of year. It might take a little luck to get a table.

With the recipe below, you won’t need luck. It’s so easy to make and delicious. All you need is a crockpot and a few hours to spare.

Cooking the stew meat slowly for hours in Guinness beer and beef broth creates a very tender bite of beef. There are several options with this recipe. You can vary the beer, but a dark beer is best. Guinness is perfect. You can also use sweet or yellow onions, if you prefer that to white.

The preferred way to serve this would be on top of a bed of mashed potatoes, but if you don’t want to make mashed potatoes, you can simply chop up 2-3 cups of any potato you like and cook that right in the stew.  The next time you are in the mood for an easy and hearty meal, try this Irish stew. Enjoy!

Easy Irish crockpot stew

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ready in: 5-8 hrs

Ingredients:

2 lbs. beef stew meat, bite size cubes

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. black pepper

A pinch or more of cayenne pepper

2 large onions, chopped (I used white onions)

1 garlic clove, crushed/minced

3 tbs. tomato paste

1 c. Guinness or stout beer

1 c. beef broth

2 c. chopped carrots

2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. Combine the beef, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, onions, garlic, tomato paste, beer, beef broth, carrots, thyme and bay leaf in a crockpot. Stir the ingredients together.

2. Cook on the low setting for 5-8 hrs.  I’ve cooked mine over 8 hours while at work and it came out just fine.

3. Serve over a bed of mashed potatoes. Enjoy!