BEEF & DARK BEER STEW, easy, wallet-friendly, dairy-free option

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THE DELICIOUS DARK SIDE OF BEEF & BEER...

first posted 2015; updated 3/25

Slow cooked for hours till thick, melting & unctuous

This is one of 67goingon50's signature dishes and it is absolutely stunning.    

It's based on the Beef & Guinness Stew the Blogger first tasted shortly after arriving in London.  It was culinary love: deep, dark colours, intense flavour and rich thick gravy.  The meat was so tender it could be cut with a spoon and the vegetables had wonderful texture.  

67 has made the stew hundreds of times since and each time diners have been blown away. 

Initially, cooking the stew in a low oven for 9-10 hours was the way to go but now 67 relies on a slow cooker.  (see Making the Most of Slow Cookers) There's little chance of overcooking; the stew just gets more rich and deeply flavoured. 

If you like beef - which has fallen out of favour recently -  prices are pretty good. Watch for bargain prices at M&S, Waitrose & Sainsbury's.  

The stew is an indulgence worth every penny and was perfect for St Patrick's Day lunch.  It's wallet-friendly, not frugal;  tougher cuts of beef like chuck and stewing beef are perfect.  It is slightly higher in fat than usual 67 recipes.  

But it does feed a lot of people, especially if you add a few thickly chopped parsnips or swede in the early stages, and in the last hour of cooking, a tin of drained, rinsed white haricot beans. 

If there are weight or other health issues, restrict the amount of beef in a portion and load up on veg.  Leftovers freeze well and can be transformed into thick soup.  

Serves: min 6-8, more with extra veg & tinned beans
Cost:  min £9.50'ish

Ingredients:

500g/18 oz stewing beef

56 gm/2 oz flour

2 tb olive oil

       2 large onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced (OR if there are worries about fodmaps, an equivalent amount of very well-cleaned fennel or celery)

6 carrots, top & tailed, peeled and in thick chunks 

(to make stew go further, add 3 peeled parsnips & half a small peeled swede in similar size chunks)  

1-2 cups/250-500 ml Guinness or porter (67 used 500ml) (Sorry, there is no alcohol-free equivalent but the alcohol will be cooked out by serving time)

1-2 cup/250-500 ml beef or other stock (67 used 250ml)

zest of one orange, coarsely grated 

 

1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
1/2 tsp dried thyme 

Prepare an hour before serving: 

1.5 oz dairy or plant butter 

150gm/6 oz thickly sliced mushrooms

pepper & salt

1/2 tsp dried thyme

tin of haricot beans, drained (opt) 

Method:

SPICED PLUM & PINEAPPLE CRUMBLE CAKE/BARS, lower sugar, Indulgence, egg-free

Unique Plum Crumble: serve as a sophisticated cake or in bars/squares for lunchboxes...

Plum Crumble Cake (option for bars/squares)
' the most luxuriously lovely crumble ever made. Just sumptuous.'

This 67goingon50 recipe started out as American-style crumble bars for an indulgent snack or lunchbox treat.  Crumble Bars encase the fruit both above and below in crisp buttery layers.  They are fabulous and popular with 67's tasters.  

But 67 realised that the same recipe can also serve - with the addition of a little alcohol - as a sophisticated after-dinner cake.   

Trust me, whichever version you choose, there will be no regrets.  The crumble is rich and more-ish; the wholemeal/oatmeal and coconut components enhance its buttery, almost pastry like texture.  

The fruit layer is a comforting mix of tart plum and sweet pineapple (both only 65p in one of our favourite supermarkets*) -- with, if you like, a few handfuls of juicy blackberries.  It's beautifully, unexpectedly shot through with warm spices.   

Very autumnal.  Very delicious.  Very 'Wow!'.

The Plum & Pineapple Crumble isn't one of the healthy options -- too much butter for that.  But sugar is kept to a minimum and there's plenty of gut-friendly fibre.   

Alcohol for the fruit is optional but probably best suited for the cake rather than the bars/squares.


Cost: £3.50

Feeds: 8 for cake; 9 for squares; 18 for bars (recipe halves nicely)

Ingred: 

  
  113gm/4oz unsalted butter 

   150gm/5.3oz plain white flour
   37gm/1.3oz EITHER wholemeal flour or oatmeal (or sugar-free Ultra Granola with nuts and seeds)
   85gm/3oz dried unsweetened coconut
   100gm/3.5oz sugar
   1/2 tsp baking soda
   1/2 tsp baking powder
   1/4 tsp salt

   290gm/10.2oz plums, pits removed, in med dice (cut each half into 6 wedges and cut across the centre)
   90gm/3.1oz pineapple in small chunks, pref fresh but tinned in juice, drained will also be fine
   juice & zest of an orange
   splash of brandy or orange liqueur (opt)

   1/2 tsp dried cardamom or pulverised seeds from 5-7 cardamom pods
   3/4 tsp cinnamon
   1/4 tsp allspice
   
   1/2 tsp vanilla  
  
   3 tbsp sugar (67 used 4 generous tbsp of molasses sugar; it was fine)
   2 tbsp cornstarch (67 was out of cornstarch and used rice flour instead which was fine; you could also use ground almonds)

   
  a few halved blackberries (opt)

Method:

1. If plums are ripe, add orange zest & juice, and alcohol, if using.  
2. If plums are hard, put them in a wide frying pan over med heat with orange zest & juice, and alcohol if using; bring to the boil; turn heat right down; simmer 1-2 mins (or more if necessary) until fruit has softened but still holds its shape.  A fork should pierce with fruit with a little resistance.  

   

   Soften hard fruit in minutes on the hob

3. Stir spices and vanilla into plums.  Cool.  Cover till needed.  This can be done a day in advance. 
4. Preheat oven to 350f/180c/170fan/gas4
5. Prepare tin. (a) Crumble cake: Line the bottom and butter the sides of an 8x8inch/20x20cm circular tin.  (b) Bars: Line square or rectangular tin with greaseproof paper, leaving a large overhang. 
6. Pour coconut into a dry pan and place in oven 5 mins or until beginning to brown; cool slightly
7. Measure other dry ingreds into a med bowl; add coconut; stir with a whisk to completely combine 
8. Melt butter gently in a saucepan; cool; stir it into dried ingreds with a fork to form crumbs
9. Remove a scant cup of the mix, set aside; pour the rest into the baking pan; press down with the back of a measuring cup to form a level base
10. Dry pineapple chunks with a paper towel; mix them with plums and sugar.  Taste, more sugar may be necessary depending on plums.  Stir through  cornstarch; pour over base, spread to edges
11. Scatter over blackberries if using
12. Cover with rest of crumble mix 
13. Bake in centre the oven 25mins or until deeply browned
14. Cake: Cool slightly; cut in wedges and serve with ice cream or cream       Bars:  Cool; remove from tin by lifting greaseproof paper and slice into bars or squares

Comments:
 'The crumble was the most luxuriously lovely crumble ever made. Just sumptuous.' Political Agent

'I loved this not-your-usual run-of-the-mill crumble.  The fruit was nicely spicy and the crumble unusually rich.'  Retired writer 

*M&S

                                                                                More bars on NavBar: Recipes I/baking 

Please leave a Comment in the box below

This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.  

FRUIT CUP WITH DARK SUGAR GLAZE, vegan opt

Taking advantage of soft fruits at their British best...

Molasses Sugar Fruit Cup, a layered healthful beauty

Layers of soft fruit - now in abundance, at their best and lower in price - topped with yoghurt and sprinkled with dark sugar are gorgeously displayed in drinking glasses*. 

Berries are not only beautiful, they are also tasty and good for you. They are the least sweet of fruits and the most nutritionally valuable.  Black Molasses sugar is the closest of sugars to the natural state of sugar beets and full of vitamins and minerals.  (Billingtons available at most supermarkets, produce unrefined sugars including molasses sugar that is non-gmo, gluten-free and vegan.) 

67 used a variety of soft fruits in the photo: nectarines, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, kiwi fruit,  'cause that's what was in the fridge.  But a single berry or soft fruit, or even a single or variety of less pricy fruits like apples, oranges, bananas, pears will be perfectly fine.  (If using the less pricy fruits, best stir in a generous pinch of cinnamon or ginger to the fruit before topping with yoghurt.)

The fruit cups make a simple thrown-together dessert with a dark, smoky layer of sweetness.  For breakfast, top each fruit layer with uber-granola.  

This is best made on the night before or refrigerated at least a couple of hours. 

1st posted 6/8/16 

Cost: as little or as much as you like
Feeds: 1 or more  

Ingred:

   whole berries OR
   peeled, cut up fruit OR
   both
   
   2-3 generous tbsp strained 0%-fat plain yoghurt per serving 
   a drop or two of vanilla extract (opt)
   1 1/2-2 generous teaspoons molasses sugar per serving

Method:

1. In a separate container, mix yoghurt & vanilla
2. Place fruit, layered or in a heap, in see-though glasses or small bowls  
3. Cover with yoghurt
4. Sprinkle with molasses sugar or other brown sugar
5. Refrigerate overnight 

Tips:

• defrosted frozen fruit was also used and worked well; the juices added to the layers of flavour
• if the budget doesn't run to Molasses Sugar (which appears in other 67 recipes) use the darkest brown sugar you have

*Balloon glasses: 4 for £4, Morrisons 

Please leave a Comment in the box below

This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.