Beef & Guinness Stew with Dumplings

St. Patrick's Day is approaching and it's a guarantee that Irish food will be celebrated worldwide. I think the main perception of typical Irish dining, from those who haven't travelled here, would consist of big bowls of stew with accompanying pints of Guinness. It probably wouldn't be an everyday dinner for most of us, but not a bad dining option all the same. 

I love nothing better than a tasty stew on a cold, blustery day and this is one of my favourite combinations. I have fond memories of devouring bowlfuls of stew as a young child and there were always little nuggets of gold, in the form of dumplings, which I totally relished. The dumplings my mother made were always very small, which seemed just perfect as a child as each spoonful of stew would carry one or two of these. 

I generally make dumplings a little larger and my own children also love them. Buried within the flavoursome rich and salty stew they add a wonderful contrasting texture of soft and fluffy. Served with a good helping of creamy mashed potatoes this Beef & Guinness Stew with Dumplings would be welcomed at any occasion but seems especially appropriate for St. Patrick's Day. 

Ingredients

• 1 kg stewing beef, diced
• 2tbsp plain flour
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 180g streaky bacon, chopped
• 2 onions, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 5 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2tbsp tomato puree
• 500mls Guinness
• 300mls beef stock 
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs fresh oregano

Dumplings

• 250g self-raising flour
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 125g butter, cold-straight from the fridge
• 1 tbsp cold water

To Serve:

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan180C/gas mark 6.
2. Toss the beef in some seasoned flour.
3. Heat half of the oil in a large, oven proof saucepan or casserole dish and cook the beef in batches. Leaving to one side, in a dish.
4. Heat a little more oil in the saucepan and add the bacon, onion and garlic. Cook for five mins until golden then add the carrots and tomato purée. Gradually add the Guinness and the beef stock.
5. Add the cooked beef, thyme, oregano and bay to the dish. Cover and place in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.
6. Meanwhile make the dumplings. Put the flour into a mixing bowl. Season with a little salt and pepper. Finely chop or grate in the cold butter. Gently rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add a tbsp of cold water and bring the dough together to form a ball. Divide the dough into 20 pieces and roll each one into a dumpling ball. 
7. Take the stew from the oven and nestle the dumplings on top of the cooked stew, pushing each one down into the stew so that it is half way submerged. Place the lid back on the saucepan and return to the oven for an additional 30 mins.
8. Serve this tasty stew with creamy mashed potatoes.