Guinness Beef Stew with Parmesan Dumplings

Despite the ridiculously warm weather, I’ve been in the mood for rich comforting winter foods. Having only tried dumplings at Cracker Barrel, I thought I wasn’t a fan–those dense, doughy masses just weren’t my jam. It’s only been about 5 years since I learned about the fluffy, cloud-like biscuit dumplings I’d been missing out on my whole life. Obvi, I have a LOT of stolen time to make up for.

Jamie Oliver gave me the idea to combine rich Guinness with the acidic and savory taste of Parmesan. I got the dumpling methodology from none other than the Pioneer Woman–adding cornmeal to keep the dumplings light and un-gluey is truly a stroke of genius.

You’ll Need:

• 1 styrofoam package of stew meat (or skip step 1 and use leftover pot roast or brisket)
• 2 tablespoons of flour (don’t do this is you’re using leftovers)
• 1 cup of thawed frozen pearl onions (or one large onion, diced
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch oblong pieces
• 1 1/2 cups of pee wee potatoes or baby potatoes, halved
• 1 bottle of Guinness or another stout beer or a porter
• 3 cups of beef stock
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (trust)
• 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic powder (or 2 cloves, minced)
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• Kosher salt
• Pepper
• 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup of cornmeal
• 1/3 cup of grated or shredded Parmesan (not the gross stuff out of a green shaker)
• 1/2 heaping tablespoon of baking powder
• 3/4 cup of half and half
• Kosher salt
• Oil
• Chopped parsley

Method

1. Toss the stew meat with the flour and a few big dashes of kosher salt. Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Place half the meat (discard the excess flour and salt) and let it sear for a minute or two before flipping over to sear on the other side. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat and seat aside on a plate. Repeat with the remaining meat. The pot is going to have all kinds of browned bits stuck to its bottom. This is good, VERY GOOD. Do not wash the pan before the next step. Trust!
2. Add the onions and carrots to the pot and let the veggies sauté for 5-6 minutes. The onions should be soft and the carrots should have a little color. Now we gon’ get fancy AF and do a little something they call DEGLAZING. To deglaze, you pour flavorful liquid into a pan and use a wooden spoon or a whisk to scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, letting them dissolve into the liquid. This is where SO MUCH of your flavor comes from–it’s how people make delicious things like pan sauces. So go ahead and pour your whole bottle of Guinness into your pot and scrape away!
3. Add beef stock, tomato paste, soy sauce, garlic, and oregano, whisking so it all comes together. Add the meat and any accumulated juices back in the pot, then stir in the potatoes, a few dashes of kosher salt, and 10-15 cranks of fresh ground pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat. Cover and let simmer for about 35 minutes.
4. While the stew is stewing, whisk the flour, cornmeal, a dash of kosher salt, parmesan, and the baking powder together. Stir in the half and half until it’s incorporated into a wet dough.
5. Once the 35 minutes are up, open the lid a tad and taste the potatoes and meat to make sure they’re both cooked through and tender. Taste the broth too, and add salt or more pepper if needed. Remove the lid and use a tablespoon to quickly dollop big blobs of the dumpling dough directly on top of the stew. They’ll sink a bit, and it’ll look messy and gross and you’ll want to freak out on me for ruining a pot of perfectly good pot of food. Don’t. Trust ya girl, k?! Put the lid 90% of the way back on, and let it simmer on low for 15 minutes.
6. Take the lid off. Holy shit, those gross blobs of wet dough have turned into delicious puffy white clouds!!! Let the stew sit for about 10 minutes so the dumplings can cool off a bit and set before serving. The stew will have thickened into a savory gravy that coats the meat and veggies and is a match made in heaven with the soft and bread-y dumplings. This really is the ultimate comfort food. Garnish with the parsley and Instagram that ish.

Remix The Dish: Believe it or not, these dumpling hold up surprisingly well as leftovers! Miraculously, they don’t get overly soggy or anything for the first couple days. As mentioned before, this is one of my favorite ways to repurpose leftover pot roast. This dish tastes AMAZING with chicken too–swap out a shredded roto chicken for the beef, the beer for a cup of apple juice, beef stock for chicken stock, and instead of soy sauce, stir in 1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric.