Beef and Guinness Stew with Champ

Beef and Guinness Stew

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 200 ml Guinness (about half a can in Ireland)
• 400 g stewing diced beef
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 large carrot, diced
• 1 large parsip, diced
• 2 large celery, diced
• 1 litre of thick beef stock
• springs of fresh thyme and rosemary

1. Stir fry the beef, add veggies and cook until tender, then pour the Guinness and reduce by half. 
2. Add beef stock and herbs and simmer very slowly between an hour and an hour and a half. 
3. Serve with the mashed potatoes.

From http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/cooking_beef_stew.aspx

Champ

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 pounds potatoes
• 1 cup milk
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup butter

1. Place potatoes into large pot, and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Drain well. Return to very low heat and allow the potatoes to dry out for a few minutes. (It helps if you place a clean dish towel over the potatoes to absorb any remaining moisture.)
3. Meanwhile, heat the milk and green onions gently in a saucepan, until warm.
4. Mash the potatoes, salt and butter together until smooth. Stir in the milk and green onion until evenly mixed. 

From http://allrecipes.com/recipe/irish-champ/

Stew ingredients

Chopping the vegetables before frying the meat

Meat and Vegetables

And the Guinness

Chopped and shredded thyme and rosemary

Simmering for an hour

Champ ingredients

Roughly 2 lbs or 1 kilo of rooster potatoes

Peeled, halved and boiling

Milk and green onions for the mashed potatoes

Champ made while the stew is cooking

Scallion milk

Mashed potatoes with butter

Champ with milk and scallions

Ta-da!

Champ is an Irish version of mashed potatoes that involves green onions/salad onions/scallions. Regular mashed potatoes work just as well. I found 1 cup milk made it a little soggy - I would cut the recipe down to 3/4 cup milk.

This stew was excellent. The butcher bought beef was tender and juicy, the vegetables were soft and filling, and the beef broth went well with the champ. This is definitely one of the best things I've made this year. 

I doubled the number of beef stock pots from 2 per liter to 4 per liter and actually boiled the stock pots until they had completely dissolved into the water. The beef stock was delicious and consistent because of that. 

Fresh rosemary and thyme are expensive and because I only used half of each packet, I need to use up the rest before it goes stale. I should just bite the bullet and get dried and bottled thyme and rosemary next time.

I made the champ in the hour that the stew was cooking. Making the mashed potatoes took up nearly that entire hour so it was a good use of time.

Warning: this meal did take three (3) hours from start to finish. It is good for a lazy Sunday afternoon but not for a busy weeknight. I will certainly make this recipe again but not anytime soon.

400g stewing diced beef: EUR 5.90 at the local butchers
200ml of Guinness at EUR 2.09 for 400ml = EUR 1.05 at Lidl
Onion: EUR 0.35 at Dunnes
3 Carrots, 1/5 of a bag at EUR 0.99/bag = EUR 0.20 at Tesco
1 Parsnip: EUR 0.90 at Tesco
Celery, 1/6 of a bundle at EUR 0.59/bundle = EUR 0.10 at Tesco
Beef Stock Cubes, 1/2 of a package at EUR 3.39/package = EUR 1.70 at Tesco Express (approximate)
Rosemary, 1/2 packet at EUR 1.19/packet = EUR 0.60
Thyme, 1/2 packet at EUR 1.19/packet = EUR 0.60
Total Cost: EUR 11.40 for 4 servings or EUR 2.85 for one serving

Potatoes, 1/2 of a 2 kilo bag at EUR 5.79/bag = EUR 2.90 at Tesco
Scallions: EUR 0.79 at Tesco
Butter: About EUR 0.50 worth of butter (approximate) at Tesco 
Milk, 1/4 of a 1 liter at EUR 0.79/liter = EUR 0.20 at Lidl
Total Cost: EUR 4.39 for 4 servings or EUR 1.10 for one serving

Total Cost: EUR 3.95 for one serving