**Originally published on Sitting In A Tree**
A couple of weeks ago, reader Emilie sent me this Tweet: Thinking this might be right up @ramshackleglam ‘s alley: Beef Stew with Beer and Paprika.
Why yes, it is.
I adapted the dish to suit my tastes, as should really be done with all-in-one-pot meals like this one (it’s really hard to mess them up, so go ahead and pour in everything you like), and it turned out quite stunningly. Not stunningly beautiful, alas (such is life when it comes to stews), but very, very delicious. And the leftovers? Even better.
I made it in my slow cooker, but if you’d prefer to use a large pot or dutch oven, just prepare the onions and beef in the pot you’re planning to use, and then put everything else in (including the vegetables) and let it simmer away on the stove for a couple of hours.
But I recommend a slow-cooker.
Obviously.
BEEF & BEER STEW (serves 2 with leftovers)
What you need:
Olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2-2 lbs stew meat
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp season salt
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp tomato paste
3 beef bouillon cubes (added to 4 cups water)
1 can dark beer (I used Negro Modelo, but next time I’m going for Guinness)
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into large pieces
5 new potatoes, quartered (leave the skin on)
Salt & pepper
What you do:
1. First, season your stew meat with garlic powder and season salt. Stew meat actually is sold in the supermarket under the label “stew meat” (it’s a relatively tough mix of cuts that gets lovely and tender when simmered for hours over low heat).
2. Heat some olive oil and butter in a large frying pan (or the large pot with a cover that you plan on cooking the entire thing in, if you don’t have a slow cooker) and brown the meat on all sides.
3. Remove the meat from the frying pan. Cut each piece in half, and set aside for the time being.
4. In the same frying pan, cook the onions, stirring constantly, until they just begin to color (4 or 5 minutes).
5. Put the beef, onions, and drippings from the pan into your slow cooker (or return the beef to the large pot if you’re not using a slow cooker) and add the cayenne pepper, tomato paste, and beef bouillon (plus water).
6. Add your beer. Yum.
7. Set the slow cooker to high for a couple of hours, and then set it to low for a few hours more (total cooking time should hover around 8 hours, but that’s the thing about slow cookers: it really doesn’t matter much. Anytime in the 5 hour to 10 hour window should work well – just leave it on low for longer if you’re cooking it for ages, and let it spend more time clicking away on the high setting if you’re crunched for time.)
8. A couple of hours before you’re planning on eating, take your chopped carrots and quartered new potatoes and stick them in the slow cooker. If you’d like to taste the broth to check the seasoning, this would be a good time to do it.
P.S. Don’t forget: beers come in 6-packs, so that leaves five entire cans for you (and whoever else is lucky enough to be hanging around) to enjoy while your slow cooker does all the hard work!
