Harptree Winter Stew
Ingredients:
5 carrots
2 Rutabaga
4 parsnips
6 leeks
2 medium onions
1 bottle Alaskan Amber or a honey beer (Fuller's Honeydew, Young's Waggledance, Cropton Honey Gold etc etc)
Dijon mustard
English mustard
1 bottle Alaskan ESB
2 briskets of beef, chopped into 1 1/2 inch chunks
Instructions:
Chop one of the onions and brown in a casserole dish, and add the beef, turning until brown also. Next add the vegetables - nicely chopped into mouthsize pieces, and top up with the honey beer (adding extra water if needed to submerge the meat and vegetables), and a few teaspoons of Dijon mustard. Slow cook for 2 hours, before placing on a on the stove burner over high heat, stirring, until the liquid has reduced to the level that you can top up with the hoppy beer, also add a few spoons of English mustard to taste, and pep it up a bit. Replace in the oven and slow cook again for 1-2 hours.Remove all meat/vegetables from the sauce, thicken with Bisto/flour to your preferrance, before replacing the meat and veg, and serving with some hearty mashed potato, grilled leeks, and plenty of beer.Ideal for those evenings when you've been walking the dogs in the rain, and you need some traditional hearty fare to get you up and going again. Mum never cooked as good as this (she didn't like beer...)My usual philosophy is that you need garlic with everything, but with a British style stew, it's probably best to leave it out.