I’m pretty sure there’s no better thing to eat on a cold and rainy day than a hearty stew.
That was exactly my thought process when deciding on dinner one night in Amsterdam. Luckily I had previously made a Jamie recipe the year before that used Guinness in the sauce and was really pleased with it. I was also fairly confident that the local Dutch supermarket would have all of the ingredients I would need.
They did, all bar the stewing steak. I had to buy strips of thicker steak instead and was worried it would come out too tough, but luckily it worked. However, I did add a few small glugs of balsamic vinegar to the mix to help break down and tenderise the meat.
Note that I added some green pepper to the veggie mix, simply because I had one in the fridge, and I think both red and green peppers would work well as added extras.
Thankfully, I was able to find individual cans of Guinness in the local liquor store, however the second time I made the stew (yep, it was THAT tasty that I made it twice in two weeks!) the store was closed, so I substituted it for a very dark bock beer (or any really dark ale would work nicely) and I’d actually give the slight taste advantage to the bock beer.
This is what the stew looked like after cooking in the oven for two and a half hours.
I also made a batch of Jamie Oliver’s basic dumplings (made with self raising flour, cold butter and a pinch of seasonings) and pushed them into the stew mixture.
After half an hour cooking with the lid off, the stew turned a deliciously rich and sticky dark brown colour. NOM.
This is by far one of my favourite Jamie recipes to cook during winter time, because it is so damn tasty and filling and really warms the cockles on a cold evening. It’s also incredibly easy to make because after the initial preparation, you can just leave it in the oven to do its thing.
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