Beef, Butternut Squash, Barley, Beer and Olive Stew

Somewhere between a stew and a risotto this was going to be your standard beef stew til I realised we didn’t have many vegetables , you could use less pearl barley for a sloppier stew.  The beer gives a lovely malty taste to the chewy barley, salty olives, tender meat and sweet butternut squash.

Beef, Butternut Squash, Barley, Beer and Stew

Makes enough for 4
4006 of stewing beef cubed
500g of Butternut Squash cubed
200g of pearl barley
1 pint of dark ale
1 tsp of dried thyme
2 tbsp of plain flour
1 pint of beef stock
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped
1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
1 tsp of sunflower oil
4 tbsp of black olives stoned and roughly chopped

1. Season the beef with the pepper and flour
2. Fry the onions , garlic , and brown the beef
3. Add the butternut squash, thyme and pour over the stock
4. Place on a low simmer or in a medium oven and cook for 2 hours, you may need to add more stock
5. For the last hour add the pearl barley and olives

Alternatively is you are using a slow cooker 6 hours on low with the barley added for the last hour.

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