St. Patrick Would Be Pleased

I love St. Patrick's Day. I'm half Irish, so it's almost imperative. On the other hand, I'm developing a slow burn on the way some people act on St. Patty's Day - is it necessary to add to the stereotype of the drunken Irish?  So much better to stay home and make stew.

This year, I was not in the mood for corned beef. I had bought the cabbage but just wasn't feeling the corned beef, so when my blogging pal Katie of Thyme for Cooking posted about beef stew braised in Guinness Stout, that seemed just right.

As usual, I didn't quite follow the recipe - I'm bad that way - but I made a close approximation. I browned my beef without flour and paprika and that seemed to work, although I did have to thicken the gravy at the end. I added more thyme than her recipe called for as it's my favorite herb. I also used beef demiglace, as I had that in the freezer, rather than beef stock.

And I braised it longer (four hours) as my beef was tough and needed lots of additional tenderizing. Served over boiled potatoes that were crushed with my thumb, it was deeply, richly beefy with a tang of bitterness at the back end that was interesting. I might try this again using a whole pot roast - my beef was so lean it was a little dry. A pot roast would add just that little bit of fat to make it perfect.

When we reheated the leftover stew, My Beloved suggested trying it over egg noodles so we did that and we liked it even better with the noodles. Of course, that would have been heresy on St. Patrick's Day but, on the day after, even St. Patrick would have been pleased.