Our Beer & Beef Stew Is A True Winter Warmer!

As the nights get longer and the temperatures start to drop below freezing, there's nothing better than coming home from a long day at work to a hearty beef stew washed down with a nice beer. Today's recipe is inspired by Bavarian cuisine, because, let's be honest, those Germans know a thing or two about meat and beer! Here's how they do it...

You'll need:

For the meat:

• oil for frying
• 2 large onions, chopped up
• 2 lbs beef shoulder
• 10½ oz brown mushrooms, cut in half
• salt & pepper
• 17 fl oz dark beer
• 12 fl oz beef stock

For the dumplings:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 5 stale bread rolls
• 2 eggs
• 5 fl oz milk
• 2 tbsp parsley, freshly chopped
• salt & pepper
• 1 pinch nutmeg

For the garnish:

• parsley, freshly chopped

Here's how:

1. First, heat up a generous amount of oil in a roasting pan before adding the onions. Leave them to sweat with the lid on. 

2. Next, cut the meat into pieces and add them to the onions. Fry the meat until it's golden-brown before adding the mushrooms.

Season everything with generous amounts of salt and pepper before pouring in the beer and beef stock. Leave it to simmer for about 90 minutes.

3. For the dumplings, melt some butter in a pan and fry the diced onions.

4. Next, cut the bread rolls into pieces and transfer them to a bowl. Add the eggs, milk, diced onions, and parsley. To finish, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Thoroughly knead all the ingredients together with your hands until you have a dough-like mixture. Leave this to sit for half an hour.

5. Roll out around 12 dumplings from the dough.

Add these to the beef stew and cook for a further 40 minutes.

6. Season the dish one more time and sprinkle parsley onto each portion.

Now how about that for a true winter warmer! After enjoying this hearty specialty, all you'll want to do is crash on the couch in front of the TV or with a good book. Enjoy!