Sunday, January 25, 2009

Guiness Pub Stew with Venison

In preparation for St. Patrick's Day (a national holiday in our home), I'm looking for a really good Guinness stew recipe. I found this on on CDKitchen. Of course, I modified it a little, most notably changing the beef to venison. I also used parsnips instead of carrots. The result was fantastic. It's a little soupier than a normal stew, but if you have some good bread to soak up the broth, you'll be happy. This recipe makes a ton, so it's a good excuse to have people over.

Guinness Pub Stew with Venison
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 pounds venison, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 large yellow onions, chopped
3 large parsnips (or 6 large carrots), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
3 bottle of Guinness Extra Stout
6 cups beef stock, unsalted if available
3 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped fine
1 salt and fresh ground black pepper

Directions
In a large Dutch oven or stew pot, heat the vegetable oil over Medium-High heat. Season the meat generously with salt and pepper, then sear on all sides for 2 minutes. Sear the meat in batches to avoid overcrowding. Remove the seared meat and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook for 15 minutes or until the onions begin to brown. Stir in the parsnips and garlic, cook for 5 minutes, and add the meat back to the pot. Stir in the Guinness and enough beef stock to cover. Add the bay leaf, molasses and Worcestershire sauce. Increase the heat to a boil, stir, and reduce to a simmer and cover. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is fork tender. Add the fresh thyme, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.

I couldn't do a total nutritional breakdown because the recipe analyzer wouldn't recognize the Guinness, so I ran it on beer. However, this has about 200 calories for a 1 1/3 cup serving.

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