St. Patrick's Day Stew

Hello and sorry to have had to take a few months off. I'm back and will continue to share recipes and ideas to involve you and your children in positive creative food solutions.
With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, let's get down to business.

Irish Beef Stew

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
4 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 lbs. beef chuck roast cut into 1 inch cubes or buy pre-cut beef stew meat
1 lb. peel and cleaned fresh carrots, cut into 1 inch chunks
6 potatoes, washed and peeled and cut into medium sized chunks
1 white onion, peeled, medium dice
2 cloves garlic, minced or 1 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups beef broth
1 six ounce can tomato paste
12 oz. Guinness Stout Ale
1 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp corn starch

Crock pot or dutch oven needed

Preparation
Parent- Heat oil in a large fry pan or skillet
Child- measure flour into a deep bowl, add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper
Child- toss meat cubes in flour to coat.
Parent- slowly drop the floured cubes of beef into the oil, 4 minutes on each side to brown exterior completely. (Watch out for oil splatter. Keep your kids at a safe distance.)
Child- while parent is browning the beef, place cut vegetables and all remaining ingredients EXCEPT, Guinness, water and corn starch, into a crock pot or dutch oven pot.
Parent- Turn the fry pan or skillet heat source off and place browned beef cubes on top of the ingredients your child/children placed inside the crock pot.
Parent, open the Guinness and slowly pour it into the hot frying pan/skillet and heat on low while stirring the frying pan to de-glaze or pick up the small bits of flour and flavor that was stuck inside the pan.
Parent- turn off the stove and pour the heated de-glazed liquid into the crock pot.
Child- slowly and gently stir all crock pot ingredients up from the bottom in a figure 8, to blend the flavors.
Child- turn the crock pot on high and cover the crock pot and allow to cook on high for 6 hours.
(If you are using a dutch oven, cover the dutch oven pot and bake in the oven for 3 hours at 350*F.)
Child- Set a timer!
Child- measure the water and corn starch and then slowly whisk the corn starch into the cold water to make a slurry.
Parent- open the crock pot  or Dutch oven lid using an oven mitt and slowly pour the slurry into the stew
Child- slowly stir in the slurry using the figure 8 method.
Parent- re-cover the pot and cook for another hour.
Parent- Stir and serve in bowls
TIP- this is great with Pillsbury pop n fresh rolls or biscuits. Read package instructions for cooking details. Also, plain white bread or toasted bread with a little butter or low fat margarine is good to sop up the gravy from your stew. You can omit the Guinness if you wish to and you can also use any type of beer you want, yet Guinness takes this meal to another level! You can replace Guinness with 4 ounces of red wine for the French version of this Irish classic. You can substitute veal, poultry, pork, or lamb, to get a variation of stewed dinners.

BONUS: Corned beef , cabbage and potatoes. Buy the corned beef uncooked that includes the seasoning pack. Place the beef and seasoning pack in a crock pot or dutch oven. Add 12 ounces of beer or ale and 12 ounces of water and cook in crock pot for 5 hours on high, Dutch oven for 3 hours at 350*F. At the end of this cooking time, remove corned beef from pot, wash and cut up 4 potatoes into big cubes and place the potatoes into the dutch oven or crock pot, cover and cook for 1 hour on high. Then replace the beef into the crock pot with cooked potatoes and wash and cut cabbage into 6 cube/sections and nestle the cabbage into the pot. Cover all ingredients and cook an additional 20 minutes or until cabbage is soft. Remove to large serving platter, slice beef at a 45* angle from the edge so it is less chewy. Sprinkle cabbage with vinegar if you wish. Serve with spicy brown mustard if you wish. Allow 2 tbsp of butter to melt over the potatoes, toss, then sprinkle salt and black pepper if you wish. ENJOY!

Activity- Google Ireland and look at the map. Where is Ireland? What language do they speak? What products are made in Ireland? What does the flag of Ireland look like? Discuss folklore, such as Leprechauns and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and Shamrocks. You can color a flag, or make a picture of a pot of gold. You can trace Shamrocks on paper plates and hang them up as decorations for the month. I think it is interesting to build your child's knowledge of different countries and its people, to round them out and combat prejudice.

What you have learned
The proper way to make a stew, and you can now use any type of meat to capture similar results.
You can cook with or without alcohol to still achieve great flavors.
How to de-glaze a pan using alcohol.
You made your first "slurry" with corn starch
You learned that corn starch can thicken a gravy or stew.
You learned more about your family and also of Ireland.


Have a great celebration! I hope you share this with your family, friends and co-workers who may be looking for a fun way to enjoy the Lucky Day!
See you next time.......... One Happy Chef