Beef stew with pumpkin and beer
Pumpkin beef stew
There is something so comforting about typical fall food. It’s the smell, the colors but above all the taste that make it so. When I read about the three ingredients for the Royal Foodie Joust I just had to participate. It’s my first time in the Joust and I am not a star in making up my own recipes, so I figured that this would be a perfect opportunity to start practicing!
The three ingredients for this months joust where in the colors of Halloween; black and orange and the ingredients itself would be pumpkin, beer and sugar. So sitting with Tom in bed on our regular weekend ‘breakfast in bed’ we started brainstorming on what we could make with those three ingredients and it was Tom who actually came up with the idea to make a stew out of it (see honey, I promised I would give you all the credits!!) and the rest was really fairly simple.
I had never before used pumpkin to cook or bake anything, so the first thing we had to do was buy a pumpkin. We went to the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam where they have a lovely organic market, so that is where we bought pumpkins (yes, I bought two different ones, so expect at least one more pumpkin recipe soon!) and organically produced beef for our stew. For the beer wanted to use stout as that is dark and lovely and all the other ingredients I still had in the kitchen so here is the recipe that we made:
Beef stew with beer and pumpkin
Yield: 2-3
Ingredients:
- 350 gr. beef
- 30 gr butter
- 4 small onions
- Half a medium sized pumpkin
- 200 gr round carrots or another vegetable you like
- 1 bottle of Stout or another dark beer
- 5 cloves
- 1 pcs of mace
- 2 bay leaf
- 1 cinnamon stick
- sugar to taste
Directions:
Serve with mashed potatoes or rice (we picked the mashed potatoes)
Cut the beef in chunks of about 2 cm and put pepper and salt on them. Put the butter in a casserole pan and once the butter stops foaming add the meat. Bake the meat for about 10 minutes on medium high till it is browned.
2. Cut up 3 onions in rough pieces and add them to the meat. Bake for another 5 minutes. Add the bottle of beer.
3. Stick the cloves into the remaining onion (you can leave it whole, it will fall apart anyway) and add this together with the mace, bayleave and cinnamon stick to the meat. Bring to a boil, add pepper and salt and sugar to taste. You don't want it to be overly sweet. Put a lid on the pan and simmer for approx. 2 hours. Add the carrots in and simmer for another half hour before you add the pumpkin. Simmer for another half hour and check if the meat is fall apart tender and the pumpkin well done.
You can add potatoes to the mix together with the pumpkin and have a one pot meal or you can make mashed potatoes and serve those on the site. Sprinkle some freshly grated nutmeg over the mashed potatoes!
You can easily make this dish the day before as the flavors will only get better after a day.
I could see endless variations of this dish really and the pumpkin and sugar give it a nice little bit of sweetness. While simmering on the stove the smells that came of it where delicious!! Especially the cinnamon was very noticeable. I did detect a very slight bitter aftertaste to the dish, which I somehow feel might be because of the cinnamon but not sure.
In any way, we were both really really pleased with this lovely stew and will definitely be making this again! Perfect for a rainy and stormy autumn day (well, it’s sunny here today… 
) but you know what I mean.
So this is my official entry for the Royal Foodie Joust, hosted every month by the Leftover Queen. You can vote for me here after november 1st! Ofcourse you can always join as well in this fun event!
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
oh my…this looks really good and your photos are stunning…
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This looks AMAZING! I love the little fondue dish you used for serving the stew. It is so cute! The joust is great fun, but I haven’t participated for quite a while. I always find one of the ingredients difficult or not appetizing, but this month was different. I think I still have time, no?
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Simone (junglefrog) — October 18th, 2009 at 17:52
You still have until november 1st Jo, so you should be able to make something fun! I agree that the ingredients where really good this month… I even think they would be great to combine in a focaccia…
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Yum! As a Belgian, I can only approve of beer stew (although I sometimes use Irish beer, rather than Belgian…). This is exactly the kind of food that makes me look forward to fall and winter, even though I’m very sensitive to the cold: stews, soups, braised dishes, rich flavours… I’ve never tried cooking with pumkin either, but your pictures make it look delicious!
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So I’m pretending that the beef is tempeh for my own sake, and imagining how good that would taste. The pictures are certainly tempting- Everything looks so warm, homey, and very comforting!
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MMMMMMMM,…ypu never used pumpkin before,…this stew looks so hearty & so delicious!!
Just real comfort food,…
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Good luck with the Joust.I think this is a wonderful combination of ingredients ….all credit to Tom of course……he=he!!!!
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Totally amazing!
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I love most kinds of stews Simone and this one is fantastic! Great ingredients that are perfectly suited to one another. Stunning pics as well!
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What a gorgeous stew! So comforting and tasty!
Cheers,
Rosa
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Oh that looks great! And the Guinness in the background… oh yummy! Great combination. I love to cook with pumpkin and hopefully I’ll be able to participate in the Joust this month.
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Wow, this looks so good! The perfect thing for these cooler days! Welcome to the Joust! Great photos too!
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I don’t think I’ve ever made a stew. That beef looks so tender!
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I think you stand a good chance of winning with this one. Clever and looks homey and comforting. I’ve been thinking and thinking and still I’ve come up with nothing yet. The “sugar” with beer threw me.
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Mmm that looks delicious and perfectly comforting Simone and I simply adore the serving bowl you chose, lovely!
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Woow, This is just my kinda stew! Looks fantastic!
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Ok, you win! This is wonderful and the flavors are gorgeous together. Yum! And yes this is so Autumny. I love pumpkin cooked with meat. Perfect!
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What a hearty stew – love all the ingredients in it! It sounds fabulous – You should submit this recipe to Recipe4Living.com!
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This sounds delicious and indeed very wintery. Maked me want to try this recipe too.
And, just “hearing” you “talk” about Amsterdam reminds me of my trip to Holland about 18(!!!) years ago, and it makes me want to go again for a visit! I loved it. Wished I was born there
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the bitter taste might the beer.
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Wow! This looks and sounds amazing. I’ve never tried pumpkin in anything other than baked goods. Pumpkin in a stew. I might just have to try that!
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Love the colors and the textures in the top photo. What are you using for the backdrop?
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The only liquid in this stew is beer. Is that right? No stock? How much pumpkin should be used? You said a medium-sized pumpkin but for those of us that don’t know what that is, can you list grams too please? Also, bayleaves and bayleave aren ‘t words. Yeah I’m being a dick but today sucks and I’m tired. I like your pictures.
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Simone (junglefrog) — October 23rd, 2009 at 23:36
Hey Alex. You are right, there is no liquid in this stew other then beer. And as for the pumpkin; I have no idea how much I used, so just use your own wisdom in deciding how much you want to have in there. And thanks for pointing me to the bay leaf mistake.
I am not a native english speaker, so sometimes (many times) I make mistakes!
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Love the photos
)
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Ahhhh, I love these stews that teeter with sweet and savory. When done right, cinnamon is a great spice in savory food.
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I made this tonight and it was so delicious! My home had such a wonderful fragrance. The only thing I did differently was coat the beet stew meat in a mixture of flour, pepper and salt. This thickened the gravy. I just loved all the different autumn spices infused in the beef and chunks of onion. Thanks for the great recipe.
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This looks absolutely amazing. Beautiful photography as well.
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The stew is just wonderful!. I have put a link to your recipe to polish cooking forum, and I have also translated it. I hope you dont mind
It is so great that it need to be shared with others 
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Hi Simone,
I would like to feature this recipe on CraftBeer.com in our recipe section. CraftBeer.com is a website by the Brewers Association (the National trade association for craft beer). The site is dedicated to elevating the status of craft beer, educating the public on beer styles and cooking with craft beer.
I would create a post similar to this one: http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/beer-and-food/recipes/recipes-list/show?title=pumpkin-ale-profiteroles-with-cinnamon-caramel-sauce and include your photo/bio/website information.
Please let me know if this would be ok!
Cheers,
Meghan
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I think the bitterness is from the Guiness Stout. I’ve had that result before when I put too much into a Beef Guiness Stew
Made a version of this today but with pilsen beer and it’s really yummy. I added a cup of beef stock though as I wanted more gravy.
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I made this today. It was great! A couple of additions: 2 Tbs good quality chili powder to onion and beef saute. Instead of sugar, I added dark molasses. Next time I plan to up the liquids a bit and add a pumpkin puree/roux.
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Simone (junglefrog) — October 8th, 2012 at 07:52
Great Diane! And love your additions!
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Looks wonderful! I’m making this tonight! How did you prepare the pumpkin? …just peek and big chunks?
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Brianna — December 9th, 2012 at 16:48
*peel not peek
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Simone (junglefrog) — December 9th, 2012 at 17:31
I did peel and make big chunks indeed! It’s been so long since I made this! You just made me remember to make this recipe again soon!
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