Saturday 11 April 2009

Beef Casserole

I saw this casserole on 'Nigella Feasts' although I can't find the recipe in the book 'Feast'.

I've never used Guinness or orange in a casserole before, so this recipe appealed to me. Normally I would add lots of other vegetables too, but I decided to follow the recipe exactly today.

In a casserole, fry the onion and carrot gently in some oil for several minutes until softened a little.

Meanwhile, shake the beef in the seasoned flour. Remove the veg from the pan and fry the beef in batches in some more oil until browned (more or less) then remove the beef from the pan.

To the pan, add the water and Guinness, the herbs and the orange zest and juice. Increase heat, add the vegetables and beef and once it has come to the boil, put a lid on and simmer for 2 1/2 hrs either on stove top or in oven at 150 C or so. (Once my Scanpan casserole is heated through I can simmer stews at 110 C.)

Richly flavoured with a slightly bitter tang, although pleasantly so - and it was the first time my children all ate up their casserole without fuss!

Next time I'll be adding more vegies (green beans and sweet potato would be nice).

Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
1 kg chuck/stewing steak, diced
1/4 cup flour, with salt, pepper, good sprinkling of allspice
1 cup water
1 cup Guinness/stout
1/2 orange (zest and juice)
2 bayleaves, couple of leaves of sage or sprinkling of dried sage

2 comments:

Rhyleysgranny said...

What a mouth watering pic. Looks lovely. I am not fond of the bitterness in Guinness casseroles. I now add a little maple syrup, tip I got from Soozy B. Just takes the edge off. I must try this one. I love the idea of the orange

arista said...

Thanks Brenda - good idea about the maple syrup. The orange is an interesting addition. You wouldn't know there was orange in there but it fills out the flavour well.