Tom Kerridge's beef and stout stew recipe
This stew is hearty, satisfying and all-round scrumptious – so you'd never guess that each serving contains just 515 calories. The recipe was created by British chef, and promoter of healthy eating, Tom Kerridge, and comes from the pages of his book Fresh Start: How to cook amazing food at home. It tastes especially wonderful served with a heap of mashed potatoes (which will up the calories to 740).
"There’s nothing quite like a comforting beef stew on a cold wintry day," says Tom. "Made with classic ingredients, this is a traditional stew with big, bold flavours. The alcohol will cook off in the oven, but stout has quite a powerful taste, so if you’re cooking for kids you may prefer to replace it with extra beef stock."
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1.5 kg braising beef, cut into 3.5cm/1 ½in pieces
- 4 large onions, thickly sliced
- 3 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- 500 ml stout
- 800 ml beef stock
- 6 sprigs of thyme
- 450 g chestnut mushrooms, halved
- 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 6 portions of mashed potato, to serve
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Stew
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 180 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/330°F/gas mark 4.
- Place a large non-stick casserole pan over a high heat and add 1 tbsp of oil. Season the beef with salt and pepper and brown in the hot casserole in batches until the pieces are well coloured on both sides, making sure you do not overcrowd the pan. Remove each batch and set aside on a plate.
- Add the remaining oil to the pan and lower the heat to medium. Toss in the onions and cook for about 10 minutes until softened and golden brown. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the stout and stir well to deglaze the pan, scraping up the meat sediment. Return the beef to the pan, pour in the beef stock and add the thyme. Bring to the boil, then put the lid on the casserole and cook in the oven for 1½ hours.
- Add the mushrooms to the casserole, stir well and return to the oven for a further 1½ hours.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in half of the chopped parsley. Scatter over the remaining parsley to finish and serve with mash, if you like.
To freeze: Allow to cool, then freeze in two-portion lidded foil trays. Defrost fully in the fridge overnight. Cover with foil, then reheat in an oven preheated to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6 for 30 minutes, or until hot right through.
Recipe extracted from Tom Kerridge's Fresh Start by Tom Kerridge (published by Bloomsbury, £26 RRP, Hardback). Photography by Cristian Barnett.
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