Guinness Beef Stew

I adapted this recipe from a few sources (Miliken and Feniger's recipe at FoodNetwork.com, Kathy Maister's recipe at Startcooking.com) and love it enough that I've revived my food blog to bring it to you!

I really wanted a single-pot dish with a long, slow cooking process, so my neglected Dutch oven can get its much-needed autumn workout. Accordingly, I went for beef chuck (a tasty, not too fatty option that can stand up to long cooking), and decided to buy a full roast and trim it down into stew pieces myself. If you go that route, be prepared to buy at least a three-pound roast, since you'll lose some fat or connective tissue when you trim. Pre-packaged stew meat would be absolutely fine.

Serve this stew with a nice hearty bread--a soda bread would be great! (The bread in the photo is actually a sweet sourdough bread with a great chewy texture.) If you prefer to serve with mashed or cooked potatoes, feel free to leave the potatoes out of the stew itself.

Recipe after the jump!