Beef Cooked in Guinness with Black Olives and Prunes

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Rich with Guinness and tomatoes, studded with slightly salty, piquant olives, sweetened with juicy prunes, slow-cooked red onions and red pepper, this unique Beef and Guinness Casserole has layers of intense flavour, as well as interesting texture contrasts. All these wonderful flavours and textures come together surprisingly harmoniously, creating a dish which is as wonderful for a comforting family meal, as it is for a fabulous supper with friends. We love it served with a creamy, peppery, cheesy polenta but it also works really well with mashed potatoes, pasta, cauliflower purée, celeriac purée and celeriac and potato purée.

Where is this recipe from?

I have been making this Josceline Dimbleby recipe for over 25 years. I can’t remember where I found it, but it has featured in my kitchen for both family meals, as well as suppers with friends, many times over the years.

How to make Beef Cooked in Guinness with Black Olives and Prunes

Collect all your ingredients together:

• plain/all-purpose flour
• cubed braising/stewing beef
• olive oil
• unsalted butter
• red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• red pepper, stem removed, seeded and roughly chopped
• cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• Guinness
• pitted black olives, roughly chopped
• ready to cook prunes, pitted and roughly chopped
• finely chopped fresh rosemary or dried rosemary
• passata
• fine salt, or to taste
• freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

• soured cream
• chopped parsley
• cheesy polenta, mashed potatoes, pasta, cauliflower purée, celeriac purée or celeriac and potato purée.

How to make this delicious casserole:

1. Sprinkle the flour over the cubed beef and toss well, coating the meat evenly with the flour.
2. Heat the oil and ½ the butter in a cast iron pan over a high heat. Brown the beef on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside. Do not overcrowd the pan. You will probably need to do do this in 3 or 4 batches. If necessary add a little extra oil. When you have cooked all the beef, the base of your pan should be quite dark. This is perfect! The dark, sticky bits are full of flavour and will cook into the casserole when you add the vegetables and Guinness.
3. As the beef cooks, prepare the onions, pepper and garlic cloves. I prepare and roughly chop them, then blitz everything in a food processor until very finely chopped. You could also do this by hand.
4. Once the beef is cooked, add the vegetables and any liquid from the food processor to the pan. Cook over a moderately high heat, stirring regularly and scraping up the sticky bits as it cooks. When the liquid has evaporated, add the remaining butter and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until very soft.
5. As the vegetables cook, chop the prunes, olives and fresh rosemary.
6. When the vegetables are ready, add the Guinness and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Boil rapidly for 2 minutes, stirring to scrape up any remaining sticky bits.
7. Add all the remaining ingredients, mix well and cook in a preheated oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the oven down and cook for a further 2½ – 3 hours, or until the sauce has thickened and the beef is falling apart.
8. Serve: delicious with mashed or baked potatoes, creamy, cheesy polenta or pasta. Swirl with some sour cream, sprinkle with parsley and serve with green vegetables or a green salad on the side.

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