noodle

Beef Burgandy Stew and Whole Wheat Beer Bread... Yum!

I thought I'd share since this is one of my favorite dinners and I freeze the stew which lasts a few days anyway. It's a huge hit at work for lunch as well. Hearty without being too heavy. And the bread is delish!

Beef Burgandy Stew (yield 12 one cup servings) (cook time: 2.5 hours)
1.5 lbs lean boneless round steak (1/2" thick)
Vegetable cooking spray
1 t vegetable oil (I use ex light virgin olive oil)
1/2 t dried thyme
2 lg cloves garlic, minced (I use 4 )
2 bay leaves
3 c Burgandy or other dry red wine
1/4 c tomato paste
1/2 c plus 3 T of water, divided
2.5 c quartered fresh mushrooms (~1/2 lbs)--baby bellas are best
12 small round red potatoes (creamers), quartered (~1.5 lbs)
6 medium carrots, cut into 1/2" to 1" pieces (your choice on size, I like them a little smaller)
2 small onions, quartered (~1/2 lb)
2 - 10.5 oz cans low sodium chicken broth
3 T cornstarch
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
1 1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
Trim fat from steak, cut into 1" pieces (I like them a little smaller). Coat a Dutch oven (or big soup pot) with cooking spray, add oil, place over MedHigh heat until hot. Add steak, cook until browned on all sides, stirring often. Drain and wipe drippings from the Dutch oven. Return steak to pan, place over Med heat. Add thyme, garlic and bay leaves, cook 1 minute. Add wine and tomato paste, bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 1.5 hours or until steak is tender. Add 1/2c water, and next 5 ingredients, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer ~40 minute or until veggies are tender. Remove and discard bay leaves. Combine cornstarch and 3T water, add to the stew. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes or until stew is thickened. Stir in parsley, salt and pepper.
**for non-alcoholic version: 1 - 13 oz can no-salt-added beef broth, 3/4c nonalcoholic red wine, 1/3c water, and 1/4c red wine vinegar instead of the 3c of Burgandy.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread (Yield: 1 loaf) (cook time 50-60 minutes)
1.5 c all-purpose flour
1.5 c whole wheat flour
4.5 t baking powder (important! use only Aluminum-Free!)
1.5 t salt
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1 - 12oz can/bottle of beer (I use Guinness, naturally)

Preheat oven to 350' Farenheit. Lightly grease 9"x5" loaf pan. Combine dry ingredients. Pour in beer, may be necessary to mix dough with hands. Scrape dough into prepared loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
**you can also use 1/4 c melted butter on top of the loaf before cooking, but I didn't want the added fat.

The bread is fairly hideous to look at and pretty crumbly but goes really well with this and my Guinness-cocoa-coffee chili. Both recipes are low fat and good sources of protein. Guinness adds B vitamins, too. Ahh... I think I may have developed a pattern with my cooking... Enjoy!



whoops... credit, where credit is due... stew from Cooking Light 5-Star Recipes, bread from AllRecipes.com. With some modifications by me.

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doodlebird

looks yummy fredweena. my initial thought was why chicken broth in a beef stew? but umm.... i'll just keep my mouth shut until i try it.

and let's see guinness comes in packs of 4 or 6. so what do you get when you cross the remaining bottles with the 2.5 hours it takes to make the meal? hmmm...

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xoxo
doodle

noodle

doodlebird... do with the Guinness what you like. I had two.
And I tried the recipe with half chicken and half beef broth. It wasn't nearly as good. Something about the beef brother and the wine. The chicken is lighter and doesn't make the wine taste sooo strong. My apartment still smells awesome from the garlic, wine and bread cooking so long. The Guinness chili is even better.



note: I wouldn't recommend trying to make banana nut bread after the aforementioned two Guinneys. I forgot it was in there as I was hovering over the stew inhaling the aromas and waiting for it to be done.

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Rodney

You might want to start the alcohol meal with an appetizer: a "cheese ball" made mainly of cream cheese and amaretto, with crackers. One of my personal favorites!

No surrender

Looks great - going to try it in the mountains next weekend!

noodle

Guinness Chili (serves around 8-10 depending on hunger and serving size) (cook time: 1.5 - 1.75 hours)

2T extra virgin olive oil
2 vidalia onions, chopped
3-4 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 to 1.5 lbs lean ground beef (leaner the better)
1 lb very lean sirloin, trimmed and cubed
1 14oz can peeled/diced tomatoes with juice
1 12oz can/bottle of Guinness
1 c strong brewed coffee (Starbucks Gold Coast Blend tastes the best, so far)
2 6oz cans tomato paste
1 14oz can beef broth
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
3.5T chili powder
1T cumin seeds
1t dried oregano
1t ground cayenne pepper
1t ground coriander (I use a mortar and pestle on coriander seeds and sift out the hulls for taste)
1t unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5t salt
1 15oz can each kidney, pinto, garbanzo and black beans
4 fresh, hot chili peppers, seeded and chopped

Heat oil in large soup pot over Medium heat. Cook meat, onions and garlic for 10 minutes (or until meat is well browned and onions are tender). Mix in tomatoes with juice, beer, coffee, tomato paste and broth. Season with brown sugar and spices. Stir in half of the beans and all of the chili peppers. Reduce heat to low, simmer 90 minutes. Stir in rest of beans (I add another 1T of sriracha here), simmer 30 minutes to 45 minutes until beans are softened (stir about every 10-15min).

Couple of notes:
~I drain the meat and onions prior to adding liquids to get rid of some of the fat.
~Typically replace one of the peppers with 1.5T sriracha sauce when cooking the meat.
~To decrease heat, use poblanos and Anaheims. I use jalapenos, scotch bonnets and habaneros.
~If it looks thin, I dissolve 1t cornstarch in 2t water and add to chile, cook 2 min, stirring constantly.
~Can be made using ground turkey, but doesn't taste as good. Never tried it with tofu crumbles.
~If I'm not going to serve with salty tortilla chips, I add two pinches of kosher salt with the second addition of beans and stir well.
~~Orig recipe calls for four cans of kidney beans. I like variation so I mix the four cans of different beans in a bowl and divide for the additions to the recipe. Have also used four cans of organic three bean (kidney, pinto and garbanzo) salad, but I like the black beans in there, too.

Tastes great with a Guinness (surprise) and some Tostitos Scoops. Serve with some sharp cheddar on top (some like a little sour cream, too) in a thick bowl. People chase me around work making funny "happy lady noises" when I bring this in. Awesome.

Initially found this on the internet and tweaked the heck out of it to get it to my heat and seasoning preferences.

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