Try Zola Nene’s recipe for delicious Beef and Stout Hotpot from her new book Simply Zola
More about the book!

‘My Irish friend Jamie once begged me to drink a pint of Irish Stout with him at his farewell party as he was moving back to Ireland. It was complete torture, as I simply couldn’t handle the strong taste. BUT, give me Guinness in a stew and I’m happy as Larry (or Jamie in this case).’

Zola Nene has become quite a force on the South African culinary scene, yet her personal quest is to show people that cooking great food needn’t be pretentious or difficult.

Try her recipe for Beef and Stout Hotpot from Simply Zola!

Serves 4.

Ingredients

60ml oil
1.5kg beef shin
salt and pepper
60ml cake flour
200g baby onions, peeled and quartered
4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2.5ml chilli flakes
30ml tomato paste
2 sprigs rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
1 x 10g beef stock pot
750ml dark stout beer
4 potatoes, sliced
30ml unsalted butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Heat the oil in a cast-iron casserole or any oven-proof pot.
Season the beef generously with salt and pepper, then dust with the flour. Brown the meat in batches in the hot oil then remove from the pot and set aside. Add the onions, carrots and garlic to the pot, and cook until all have softened. Stir in the chilli flakes, tomato paste, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves, and cook for a minute. Return the meat to the pot; pour in the stock pot and stout, then bring to the boil.
Layer the potatoes on top in an overlapping fashion. Check the seasoning, dot with the butter, cover the pot (with a lid or aluminium foil) and bake in the oven for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender. Uncover, then return to the oven for another 20 minutes until the potatoes have browned.