Beer Braised Beef with Onion Dumplings

I bought this new cookbook a couple months ago because it was on sale. This is the first dish I made from it and it was very good. I felt it was a little too sweet because of the allspice and cloves, I would recommend a slight reduce on these spices if you don't want it tasting too sweet. I also omitted the dill from the dumplings because I have not found a taste for dill in recipes yet. The dumplings and the braised beef with beer is delicious.

Beef:

4 Tbls vegetable oil

3 pnds boneless chuck (fatty rather than lean), cut into 1 ½ inch chunks

¾ cup all-purpose flour

2 pnds onions, coarsely chopped

½ pnd carrots, thickly sliced

3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

½ tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 bottle (12ozs) dark beer

1 tbls tomato paste

1 tsp salt

Dumplings:

6 tbls unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

½ cup buttermilk

2 tbls chopped fresh dill

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup fine fresh bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 5-7 quart Dutch oven or heavy bottomed saucepan, heat 2 tbls of the oil over medium-high heat. Dredge the beef in the flour, shaking off the excess. Working in batches (this is so the meat browns, rather than steams), cook the meat until browned all over, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the meat to a bowl.

Add the remaining 2 tbls oil to the pan along with the onions, carrots, and garlic. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are crisp-tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the thyme, allspice, cloves, beer, tomato paste, salt, and 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Return the meat to the pan. Cover and place in the oven. Bake for 1 ½ hours, or until the meat is tender. Place the pan on the stovetop.

Dumplings:

In a small skillet, heat 1 tbls of the melted butter. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the buttermilk, dill, and 2 tbls of the melted butter. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the buttermilk mixture. Stir the dumpling mixture gently until moistened.

In a shallow bowl, stir the remaining 3 tbls melted butter into the bread crumbs. One at a time, drop the dumpling mixture by rounded tablespoon into the crumb mixture and turn to coat. Drop the dumplings onto the simmering stew, spacing them evenly. Cover the pan and simmer the stew until the dumplings are tender and cooked through, about 20 minutes.