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Holiday/ St. Patrick's Day Stew

While some people prefer to celebrate St. P's Day with a "boiled supper" of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes cooked to a pulp in a slimy broth; I prefer my mom's stew and soda bread. The recipe below is for my grandmother's stew, transcribed by memory from my mother, Marianne Blackmar. Traditional Irish Stew is generally made with lamb, whereas this one is made with beef. The root vegetables (particularly the rutabegas) give it a fresh-off-the-boat authentic taste, lamb or no lamb.

   


Step 1: Dust the beef with flour mixture. Heat butter and oil over a medium flame in a LARGE pot, add the beef and brown on all sides.

    

Step 2: Add onion to beef, and cook to soften.

Step 3: Add broth, wine, and water (if needed). Bring to a boil.

Step 4: Add carrots, celery, rutabaga and turnip. Add herbs. Bring to a boil again, then cook for about an hour over low heat.

    
     
 
Step 5: Add potatoes and peas and cook for another hour or so until veggies are easily pierced with a fork.

Finish: Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with soda bread. (We usually use the recipe for Irish-American soda bread from "The JOY of Cooking.")
 
     
 
     
 

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Ingredients for Stew

1-1 1/2 lbs stewing beef, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (If the meat is very fatty, it will make the stew oily. Try to get leaner meat if possible)

Flour, salt pepper & paprika for dredging beef (I shake the meat & mixture in a baggie, but you can roll meat around on a plate of the flour mixture.)

2 tblsps butter + 2 tbsps cooking oil (not olive oil) Sometimes you will need a little more to avoid getting a gloppy mess.

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 32 oz pkg of beef broth (or use 4 bullion cubes with 4 cups of water)

1-2 cups red wine (not an expensive wine)

Water to provide enough liquid to make it the consistency you want. If you want it thicker, use less water. You can also make a roux (flour + water in a paste to add to the broth) to thicken it up. As with gravy, you have to pay attention so that you don't get a bunch of flour lumps.


3 carrots, sliced


3 stalks celery, ribbed and sliced


1 rutabaga, chopped into bite sized pieces


1 turnip, cut into bite sized pieces


4 potatoes (russet, golden, whatever) chopped into bite sized pieces

1 bay leaf season with basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram either in a bouquet
(inside cheese cloth and tied together) or loose in the broth. Salt and pepper to taste