Beef and stout soup with herb and cheese dumplings | easyFood

Ingredients

• 75 g rindless streaky bacon, cut into lardons
• 375 g trimmed stewing beef, all fat removed (I like to use chuck of beef for this)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, from the forequarter
• 1 onion, cut into 1cm chunks
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 large carrot, thinly sliced
• 1 large clove of garlic, finely diced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, peeled and finely diced
• 3 sprigs of thyme, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp sugar
• 500 ml stout
• 600 ml beef stock
• 225 g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp chopped thyme
• 2 tsp chopped parsley
• 200-225 ml buttermilk
• 50 g grated cheese, such as Cheddar or Gruyére