Beer Braised Irish Stew with Bacon

Green Week continues here on The Lunch Lady!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm not a huge beer drinker but I heart Two Hearted Ale.

Hubby found this pale ale a while back and it's been our "go to" beer when we actually drink it, like with stew.

For this recipe, any beer will do.  Unless you're a Beermeister and then only your own beer will do. I know one of those kind of guys. He makes good beer.



 I curse darkness and having to use a flash.  I don't curse much. I try not to. Unless I slam my lip on the corner of the wall while reaching around it to turn out the light, like this morning. Don't even ask.  It hurts and it's swollen. And it's not very pretty.

I was so excited about Day Light savings time giving me an extra hour of sunlight but it really does nothing for you when you start dinner too late and the stew comes out of the oven after dark.

So flash it is.

My apologies ahead of time.

I'm not a photoshop-er.

Ingredients: Beer, carrots...

Chop em' like you like to eat em'

Sliced onion

A couple of cloves of peeled whole garlic.

I like to leave them whole and mash them at the end.

Beef.  I was looking for cubed stew meat but the store didn't have any so I picked up some boneless round beef.  You can use chuck roast or sirloin roast too.

I used about 2-3 pounds, and cubed it myself.

Dried thyme.

I can't wait till summer and fresh herbs!

Bay leaves

Bay leaves are my secret ingredient. Shh.

I always add bay leaves to my soups and stews.

Just don't forget to take them out.

Bacon!

I strictly use uncured, nitrate free bacon these days.

We are also off of pork, so we use Beef or Turkey bacon.

Chop everything up and put it into an oven safe pot/pan.

Pour in the bottle of beer.

Don't forget to take a sip.

Bubbling deliciousness.

Add some salt and pepper and pop the whole thing in the oven, covered for a good hour or more.

Chop or crumble the bacon and set aside.

Top the stew with the bacon.

You can serve the stew with mashed potatoes and cabbage is you want to be really irish about it.

We aren't eating carbs at night so we skipped the taters.

Oh flash, I do not like you.

You make my food look washed out.

I need a new camera.

We ate the stew with a side salad and some raw red bell pepper.

and steamed asparagus with butter.

Beer Braised Irish Stew with Bacon

3 pounds beef stew meat, cubes

pat of butter

1 onion, sliced

1 cup chopped carrots

1 bottle of beer

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black ground pepper

3 whole peeled cloves of garlic

3 slices of bacon, crumbled, reserve for garnish

1. Brown beef cubes in butter.

2. Add chopped onion, carrots, garlic, seasonings, and beer.

3. Cover and bake in the oven (350 degrees F) for 1-2 hours (depending on the cut of beef)

4. Stir occasionally. Remove from oven and garnish each bowl of stew with crumbled bacon.

Cheers,

The Lunch Lady