We had Irish soda bread this afternoon with some tea-as has been a tradition for me since I was a little girl. Irish soda bread has always been a favorite of my fathers, and as such my mom usually had it around on St. Patrick’s Day! And what goes with that? a wonderful hearty Guinness stew!
I also made some beef stew with Guinness! We sampled some already- but the rest is ready for St. Paddy’s day dinner! I got the recipe from Martha Stewart (of course!), but I changed some bits a little. In case your still looking for an Irish inspired meal to celebrate the day of the green- the recipe is below.
~Irish Beef Stew- with Guinness~
* 4 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
* 2 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed
* 2 medium onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium beef broth
* 1 can (14.9 ounces) Irish stout beer (I used Guinness)
* 10 garlic cloves, sliced
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 1 (10 ounces) frozen baby peas, thawed
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, toss beef with flour; stir in tomato paste. Add potatoes, onions, broth, beer, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
2. Transfer pot to oven, and cook, covered, until meat is fork-tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Stir in peas, and season with salt and pepper.
Hope everyone has a SUPER St. Patrick’s Day. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Irish Blessings….
~An Old Irish Blessing~
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
About Shannon SchmidShannon traded in her sensible NYC TV producer shoes (they were best for taking the subway), for a pair of Texas Cowboy boots when she married her best friend! He's at fault for making this Yankee a Texan! Shannon writes about all things that make a house a home. Her chief blogging inspiration is being the proud & slightly neurotic mom of a preschool age daughter.
You can find Shannon on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and her new favorite place to hang out, Google+.
Please come up here and cook for me 🙂 Everything you post on here looks delicious! Off to lunch I go with dreams of Irish food:) Happy St. Patty’s Day! Love you!
I’d love to cook for you! But you’ll have to come to Texas first!!
Happy St. Patrick’s day blessings to ya!
Looks great Shan! You know me, don’t beef but if i did, I would love that! 🙂 I however could eat the whole soda bread:) looks delicious!!
Thanks Nikki. Actually you cold make a vegatarian version of this really easily! Just substitute the beef broth for vegatable stock- and instead of beef, add nice big chunks of veggies. Carrots, zucchini,corn, chunky tomatoes- whatever sounds good:)
Hi Shannon,
Your stew looks yummy! Sounds like a really good recipe. I *love* that Irish Blessing. We have a copy of it on the wall in our office near our computer. Thanks for stopping by Marigold Manor and commenting on my snowmen pillows;-) Have a great day.
Blessings,
Mary Anne
As the lucky benefactor of the above culinary delights, I can attest it all tasted as good as it looks. Poor Molly (at 7 and a half months) had to just settle for milk. Maybe we should have mixed in some pureed green veggies? Anyway, loved it. Thank you, baby!
~Michael
mmmm okay thats AWESOME! I’m totally doing that this weekend:) thanks girlfriend, love you!
Shannon,
If I could gain weight just by looking at food, then the blogworld would’ve made me obese today!! That Guiness stew looks HEAVENLY! Oh my…my husband would eat that entire pot! I’m totally making your recipe, mama. Thanks for sharing it! Ed thanks you, too. ;o)
Have a very blessed weekend!
Kelly-
lol- Thank Goodness it isn't possible to gain weight from food just by looking!! Especially with the amount of Food Network watching I do, and reading Martha Stewart! I'd be Veronica from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!:)
Nic & Kelly- If you make the stew you have to let me know how you liked it! Oh and a tip- I forgot to put the Guinness in the stew until it had been cooking for a while. And actually I think that helped the taste. So if you forget to add The Guinness till later like I did…no worries! lol.
Hi Shannon! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, and for your kind words. Your St. Patrick’s day menu sounds wonderful! I made some Barm Brack for the first time this year, fortunately my children loved it, so it will probably become part of our rotation.
It’s so nice to “meet” you — I look forward to reading more of your posts!