Irish beef stew

Hearty and wholesome,

Ingredients

1½kg/3lb 5oz stewing beef, cut into cubes

175g/6oz streaky bacon

3 tbsp olive oil

12 baby onions, peeled

18 button mushrooms, left whole

3 carrots, cut into quarters or 12 baby carrots, scrubbed and left whole

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp chopped thyme

2 tbsp chopped parsley

10 cloves of garlic, crushed and grated

425ml/15fl oz red wine

425ml/15fl oz chicken or beef stock

For the roux

50g/2oz butter

50g/1¾oz flour

Preparation method

Brown the beef and bacon in the olive oil in a hot casserole or heavy saucepan.

Remove the meat and toss in the onions, mushrooms and carrots, one ingredient at a time, seasoning each time.

Place these back in the casserole, along with the herbs and garlic.

Cover with red wine and stock and simmer for one hour or until the meat and vegetables are cooked.

To make the roux, in a separate pan melt the butter, add the flour and cook for two minutes.

When the stew is cooked, remove the meat and vegetables.

Bring the remaining liquid to the boil and add one tbsp of roux.

Whisk the mixture until the roux is broken up and the juices have thickened, allowing to boil.

Replace the meat and vegetables, and taste for seasoning. Adjust as required

Now make the dumplings:

Ingredients

4 oz/ 100g self raising flour

2 oz / 50g shredded beef suet

Salt and Pepper

Method

In a large baking bowl mix the flour with the suet and a pinch of salt.

Add 3 tbsp cold water and stir. If the dough is dry add more water until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough.

Divide the dough into 8 and shape into balls with floured hands. Leave to one side.

add the dumplings on the top of the stew, cover with the lid and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Serve hot. with crusty bread.

How Much Food Do I Need?

5 pc/per head will suit only a morning tea,

8 pc/per head will suit a light meal through the day

10 pc/per head will suit a light meal through the night

12pc/per head is able to replace a meal - dinner or lunch.

15pc/per head is able to replace a meal - dinner or lunch - large eaters

These quantities are just a guide but should help as a start.

The MapleTree Catering staff provide excellent service to your needs for the function, and can take all the effort out of "Doing It Yourself", leaving you to enjoy your function with your guests!

Beverages

Generally work on an average of 5 drinks per head. This can change depending on the guests invited to the function and also the time frame in which you wish to serve in. All Fabulous Fingerfood liquor packages can be altered to suit your needs. Also make sure there is a jug of water available for the guests that would want this as an option - you'll be surprised.

Venue Hire

Consider venue hire as an option if your private premises is not large enough to cater for the guests invited etc. There are plenty of options for venue hire available, consider lawn bowling clubs, town halls, community centers and scout halls - alternatively, check your councils website, they generally have a "Venues for Hire" section dedicated to the details of reputable council owned buildings available for hire for a function.

Times and Dates

Ensure that the function is not going to be held on a special day such as a special holiday, or an important date of some important guests that you really want to attend. Consider the time of the function, and ensure that you approach the catering to suit that time of the day (eg; 6.00pm start of your function, you would need to ensure to provide addequate catering to replace most of your guests dinner).

Invitations

Ensure that the invitations to the function are sent out as early as possible, 1 month before the event, allowing possible guests to ensure they can roster time off from work duties and schedule the function into their own timeframe. An important item to include on the invitation is the dress code; to make sure that all guests know what to expect of their appearance.

Glassware

You will need more glassware than simply the amount of people attending. Guests will use more than one glass over the course of the night. Generally twice the amount is needed to ensure you are covering all possibilities, such as excess usage, more people arriving than expected, and/or breakages.

Seating

Make sure there is enough comfortable seating for all the guests arriving. Ensure this seating is to the special needs of some guests - see "special considerations".

Comfort

This is a key factor to a party. If people are cold/uncomfortable, they will generally leave the function earlier than expected. Consider the hire/borrow of a portable gas heater for outside. Think about the time of the year and of course time of the day that the function is held in. Consider an open fire, but often the smoke can annoy your guests, especially those with allergies.

Music, Lights and Entertainment

Young guests will want the music loud (for an 18th/21st - consider hiring a DJ) for all other functions, appropriate background music works very effectively. Jukebox's just don't cut it, they often get overcrowded during the event with guests queing up to place their favorite song in the list to play, this has another negative affect as it leads to some songs never appearing, as the list starts to build beyond the duration of the party. Hire a professional, a DJ, that will bring you great dance lighting effects including lights and smoke effects, and can play all your requests in an ordered managed situation, to the right mood of the night. The DJ can also be the MC of the event to help with the speeches and anything else you require.

Consider your guests entertainment options. The use of DJ's with the music can be arranged through professional DJ's found on a simple google search or yellow pages, or perhaps even the hire of a billiard table. There are plenty of ideas to ensure your guests are entertained and many can be affordably hired.

Wet Weather and Areas

Ensure there is a plan for when it rains, don't leave it to chance, because chances are that it will rain when you don't want it to. Consider outside marquees, and tarps, for greater outside shelter if worse comes to worse. Make sure there is adequate sheltered areas available if the rain comes. Also another item to note with areas, is smoking areas. Have a set defined area for where smokers can go outside, with ample amount of ashtrays to avoid butts on the ground.

Schedule

Have a set time in mind when to start the speeches and cake (for special functions - this can be arranged with Fabulous Fingerfood staff to organize the event structure). As a general rule for night time celerbrations, this is often best at 10.00PM when the function is at its maximum attendance.

Decorations

Ensure the house/venue is clean, odorless and decorated different than usual and within a party theme. Consider hire and use of helium balloons. These can be most effective when filling a ceiling with the strings floating down, to create a colorful and 3D like ceiling.

Special considerations

Disabled guests, and special dietary requirement guests, including other special needs of your guest list all need to be thought about. MapleTree Catering can help you with any special dietary requirements, but you must consider disabled access etc for your guests with the venue that the function is held at.

Other Reminders

For children's parties, or even for the children at adults parties, "Party Bags" are still a big hit with the children.

Answering Guests Questions

Avoid the "Where do I?" questions, and have places set out from the start where guests can leave their personal belongings such as handbags, and coats at the venue. Another location that is necessary, is the gift table for functions that would be receiving gifts. .