Beef Stew with Thyme Dumplings
Bibble
Beef Stew and Ale With thyme Dumplings
Cut the beef up. Trim off some of the fat, you wanna keep some for the flavour.
Marinade in real ale.
I thought to keep it On Topic…
You can use as much or little as you want. I used about 2lb and made about 10 portions
Mix in the ale and cover it with clingfilm and leave it over nite
Get a couple more bottles and drink them the night before..
*burp*
Prepare your veg. I’ll call them ‘Hard veg’, as they take time to cook and umm, veg.. less time to cook
Potatos, swede carrots etc.. cut them up ‘country style’, chunky
Diced a large onion and crush 4 bulbs of garlic
And the veg, courgettes, baby onions (or shallots), leeks. Basically anything you want. Nothing too overpowering.
Soften the onions and garlic in a bit of veg oil, not much as you’ll get some liquid from the beef/ale
When thet are soft and just starting to get a bit of colour, add the beef and cook until the meat is sealed (cooked all over, sealed actually means to be brown on all sides but you was the juice to escape into the stew
Add about half a cup of plain flour and keep stiring over the heat for 5 mins.. keep stiring it..!!
Get a pint of beef stock, keep adding it until it’s stew consistency. A thick layer on the back of the wooden spoon . you might not need all the stock, depends on the amount of flour used. And, you are gonna add the remains of the marinade later.
Simmer, SIMMER.. NOT boil, for 20-30 mins
Add a sprig of the fresh tyme
Add the ‘hard veg’ and cook for another 20-30 mins
Add ‘soft veg’ and cook until tender. 15-20 mins
Add remains of the marinade just before serving. If you cook the ale marinade for a long time, you cook out the alcohol, which you don’t wanna do.
All that blood… MMMmmmm
As you start to simmer the stew, get your dumpling ingredients ready
Suet, SR (SelfRaising) flour, fresh thyme and seasoning
Off the top of me ‘ead, its about half suet to SRF. So, 2oz suet to 4oz SRF
Add water until it’s a doughy mixture, not too wet. If it does, add a bit of flour.
Roll into balls, they will expand when steaming
Get a small pan and half fill it with boiling beef stock. Add the dumplings remembering they will expand and they’ll need room.
Simmer for 15 mins or until they’ve expanded
Taste the stew, season it, if it needs it.
Portion into bowls and carefully place some dumplings.
Bit of fresh parsley
Enjoy..
