Beef & Beer

What You Need:

• Butter. About half a stick.
• Beef (whatever cut you prefer… I get the cheap stuff) cut into chunks.
• 1 Onion. Sliced into wedges.
• A few cloves of garlic. Crushed.
• 1 small apple, or half a regular sized apple. Peeled and diced—small.
• Flour. About 3 tablespoons.
• 1 bottle of Guinness. (Or something dark, Guinness is just my preference.)
• Beef Broth. 3 cups.
• Bay leaves.
• 3 Yukon Gold potatoes. Chopped into big chunks.
• 5 carrots. (Depending on size, though.) Chopped into chunks.
• And S&P, of course.

Now Put Them All Together:

• In a big soup pot, melt about a tablespoon of butter. Season the meat with S&P, brown in the pot on medium-high heat. Don’t worry if it sticks a little and the bottom of the pot gets coated — that’s good! Once the meat is browned, remove from the pot and put it aside. (I kept a second pot on the burner (it was off) next to me.)
• Turn the heat down to about medium and add some more butter to the pot (just under a tablespoon) and soften the onions. When they’re about halfway done, add garlic and apples. (The onions needn’t be overly-soft, they’ll simmer in the broth later.) Remove them from the pot as well.
• Add yet another pad of butter to the pot — a good sized tablespoon. Melt. Sprinkle the flour over the top and whisk together. Let this cook together for a few minutes (keep whisking). Whisk in about 3/4 of the beer and then the beef broth. Bring it to a boil. Drink the rest of the beer while waiting.
• When your broth is boiling, add bay leaves, the meat and onions you set aside, carrots and potatoes. Season with S&P. When it comes to a boil again, turn the heat down and let it simmer for at least an hour — or until the carrots and potatoes are softened and the meat is fork-tender. 

I served it with cornbread muffins. Delicious. I should have taken some photos, but my boyfriend didn’t get home until around 8 so we were both too hungry to wait. Plus, the lighting in my kitchen is atrocious.

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