Guinness Irish Stew

Guinness Irish Stew
(Serves 2-3)
(Adapted from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients:

1-1/5 pounds beef for stewing (I use 2 large sirloins and cut them up in cubes)
Salt
1/4 cup olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups beef stock
1 cup water
1 cup Guinness Stout beer
1 cup red wine
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 Bay leaves
2 tbsp butter
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, chopped
3-4 small/medium potatoes, chopped
S&P to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare your beef and salt it. Let it sit while you heat up the olive oil over medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed pot.

2. Brown the beef in the oil.

3. Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute until fragrant. Add the stock, water, Guinness, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a very low simmer. Cover and cook for an hour, stirring once in a while.

4. While the stew is cooking, in another pan, heat the butter on medium heat. Add the carrots and onion and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often to make sure they don't burn. Add the potatoes and cook another 5 minutes. Turn off heat or set aside.

5. When the stew has cooked an hour, add the carrot mix, s&p and cook uncovered another 40 minutes. Discard Bay leaves and serve on mashed potatoes.

**we like a thick stew, so we'll add a little cornstarch to some cold water, mix, then add it to the stew and let it boil a minute or so to thicken.