Ingredients
Casserole
1 tablespoon plain flour
500g casserole beef cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 large onion, chopped finely
2-3 carrots, cut into chunks
500mls stout or ale or beer
1 x 400g tin whole peeled tomatoes
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar to season
Bouquet garnis – bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary, tied together
Dumplings
125g self-raising flour
65g cold butter
3/4 cup grated cheese
Method
Pre-heat oven to 140 degrees C.
Dust the beef pieces in the flour and place them in a zip lock bag and shake. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed casserole on the stove top.
Fry the beef in small quantities to avoid “stewing” the meat, until brown on all sides. Remove the beef to a plate, add a little more oil to the pan if necessary, and fry the garlic and onion. Add the carrots and lightly brown.
Return the meat to the casserole. Add the stout, ale or beer. Add the tomatoes, roughly chopping as you mix it in. Fill the tomato tin with water and add to the casserole.
Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and sugar.
Place the bouquet garnis into the casserole.
Cook on a medium heat with lid off for 5 minutes, then transfer the casserole, with lid on, to the pre-heated oven. Cook for about two hours or until beef is very tender. If the beef is still a little tough cook for another half hour.
While the beef is cooking, prepare the dumplings.
Put the flour into a large bowl. Grate the cold butter into the flour. If this is too tricky, just chop it finely. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add a splash or two of cold water to help the mixture come together into a dough.
Divide the dough into 12 small balls. Once cooked the balls will swell in size.
Place the dumplings on top of the casserole once the meat is cooked. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the dumplings. Cook, uncovered for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the dumplings are golden brown.
Serve at once with a crisp green salad!
You can also refrigerate or freeze portions of the casserole.
The Quirk and the Cool 