Beef stew with Guinness

This guilt-free stew is nutritious and tastes great! Always buy lean meat and cut away any visible fat. If you have recently had a meal containing red meat, use pieces of turkey or chicken instead. The red and green peppers will provide you with vitamins, A, B, C, E plus folate and fibre.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1kg/2lb 4oz best-quality, super lean stewing steak1 tbsp cornflourFreshly ground black pepper3 tbsp olive oil6 rashers very lean back bacon, cut into cubes10–12 shallots, peeled and halved1 red and 1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped1 bouquet garni350ml/12fl oz Guinness (*optional; you can replace this with gluten-free stock if required)3 tbsp tomato purée½ tbsp sugarSlurp of Worcestershire sauce (*omit for gluten-free)300ml/10fl oz gluten-free beef or vegetable stock

Method

• Preheat the oven to 150oC/300oF/Gas mark 2

• Cut the meat into 3–4cm cubes, trimming off any excess fat. Put the flour and black pepper in a bowl and add the cubed meat. Make sure the meat is well dusted with the seasoned cornflour.

• In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and add the meat. Brown on all sides. You may need to do this in two batches. Once browned, put the steak and the remaining flour into a large casserole dish with a lid (I use a 4 litre casserole dish).

• Add the bacon and shallots to the frying pan and brown off for about 5 minutes, then add to the casserole. Now add the chopped peppers, ground black pepper and bouquet garni to the casserole.

• Return the frying pan to the heat and add the Guinness (the alcohol will burn off – if not using, add same amount of gluten-free stock), tomato purée, sugar and Worcestershire sauce (if using). Bring to the boil, then pour over other the ingredients in the casserole. Add enough stock to cover the meat, and a little bit more!

• Cook in the oven, with the lid on, for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender.

*Serve with a huge pile of freshly steamed vegetables!