Short & Sweet Sunday - Beef Barley Stew

I recently found out about a great contest from Canadian Beef that offers bloggers a chance to win a trip to Eat, Write, Retreat in Washington DC.  If anyone could use this opportunity to learn more about food blogging, photography and writing, it's me!

This is a Short & Sweet Sunday post, but this dish didn't turn out all that sweet.  My husband adores beer, especially dark beer, and loves the opportunity for cooking with beer. So how could we go wrong with beef, beer, barley, beets and horseradish?  


I think more simmering time and more balance would have helped.  


We browned the beef and then simmered it with onions, carrots, turnips, garlic and mushrooms in stout beer and beef stock.

We added tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves and barley and simmered for about 90 minutes.

It looked great but was missing something. It tasted bitter so I added more tomato paste, some worcestershire sauce and a bit of sugar.  This made an improvement but it could have used something else.

I topped the stew with chopped roasted beets, horseradish and parsley.  


This wasn't the most successful beef dish - or beef stew for that matter - I've ever made, but it was a simple, tasty dinner.

Tomorrow I'll share a dish that is one of the most successful beef dishes ever!