Beef, Guinness and Mushroom Stew with Dumplings

This is a good old fashioned basic ‘stew’ recipe and can be varied according to what you have got in the fridge. Add root vegetables like swede, potatoes, celeriac, carrots and parsnips. The dumplings are optional but I think you will find everyone will love them.

By Caroline Marson

Cookery advisor All recipes by Caroline Marson

Ingredients show imperial units

Serves 4

1kg braising or stewing steak, cut into 4cm pieces
seasoned flour
Flour

For pastry making or to thicken sauces, soups, stews and casseroles.
- Raising agents are added to plain flour to make self-raising flour, used to lighten and give an airy texture to cakes and sponges.
- Once opened reseal with quick clips or transfer to an airtight container or kilner jar. It will keep for up to 3-4 months
, for dusting
50g butter
2 tablespoon sunflower oil

Sunflower oil

It is tasteless and heats to a high temperature so is a good all round oil.

Ideal for pan-frying, mayonnaise, dressings and marinades.
2 onions, roughly chopped
100g flat mushrooms, sliced
300ml Guinness
2 tablespoon tomato puree

Tomato puree

Concentrate made from paste type tomatoes that have high pectin content.

When they’re cooked down, they’re put through a strainer to remove skins and seeds, and reduced further until almost all of the moisture has evaporated. Usually a recipe will call for a tablespoon or two, just enough to enrich a beef stew, for instance, or to deepen the flavour of a sauce made with fresh tomatoes.
1 bay leaf
100g pitted and ready to eat prunes
handful of parsley

Herbs

Ideal for seasoning pastas.

To keep cut parsley or coriander, put in a hole free polythene bag with a couple of tablespoons of cold water, give the bag a good shake and keep in the salad drawer of the fridge. Herbs should keep for a week like this.
150g carrots, peeled and cut into rough chunks

For the dumplings

110g self-raising flour
Flour

For pastry making or to thicken sauces, soups, stews and casseroles.
- Raising agents are added to plain flour to make self-raising flour, used to lighten and give an airy texture to cakes and sponges.
- Once opened reseal with quick clips or transfer to an airtight container or kilner jar. It will keep for up to 3-4 months
½ teaspoon salt

Salt

Consider tablesalt, sea salt or crystals.

Sea salt’s pronounced and salty flavour means less is required to season food.
55g shredded suet
1 tablespoon parsley

Herbs

Ideal for seasoning pastas.

To keep cut parsley or coriander, put in a hole free polythene bag with a couple of tablespoons of cold water, give the bag a good shake and keep in the salad drawer of the fridge. Herbs should keep for a week like this.

, chopped

Instructions

Preheat heat oven to 170°C (325°F) mark 3. Toss the beef lightly in the seasoned flour. Heat a third of the butter and 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and brown the meat briskly in batches, without overcrowding the pan. Transfer the browned beef to the casserole.
Add a little more butter and oil to the pan and fry the onions until lightly browned. Spoon into the casserole with the mushrooms and carrots.
Add the Guinness and tomato puree and top up with hot water so it comes about 3/4 of the way up the meat. Add the bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, stir well, then cover tightly and cook in the oven for 1 hour and 15 mins stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, prepare the dumplings: sift the flour into a bowl with the salt, stir the suet into the flour, add the parsley and enough water to make a soft dough. Take care not to overwork the dough. Shape the dumplings into small balls.
Add the prunes to the stew and place dumplings on top of the hot stew. Cover the casserole and cook for a further 20 minutes.
Increase the oven temperature to 175°C (350°F) mark 5. Remove the casserole lid and continue to cook for about 20 minutes to dry the surface of the dumplings or until the meat comes apart with a push of your finger. Add a little more water if the meat begins to dry out. Check the seasoning and serve with a winter warmer like mash or jacket potato.

To freeze: Complete the recipe up to the end of step 5, then pack in a suitable container, label and freeze for up to 3 months.
To use: Defrost stew and dumplings overnight in the fridge. Return to an oven proof dish, complete the recipe from step 6. Cook the recipe for about 30 minutes at a slighter higher temperature of 200°C (400°F) mark 6 or until golden and piping hot.

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