Irish Stew

1 1/2 lbs. beef, cut into 1″ pieces
1/4 cup butter
1 can tomato soup
1 can water
4 carrots, cut into 1/2″ pieces
4 large potatoes, cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 stalks celery, cut into chunks
4 onions, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
1/4 cup good quality sherry
2 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a heavy skillet brown the beef in the butter over medium high heat. Add the soup and water, stir well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 5 minutes.

Transfer to a cast iron dutch oven or oven-proof pot. Cover and cook in the oven for 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

Remove from oven, remove bay leaves and serve.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Brown Bread

4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons butter

Mix the flours and rub in the butter. Add the salt and soda. Make a well in the center of the flour mix and add the buttermilk. Stir. (Add a bit more buttermilk if necessary.)

Coat your hands with flour and shape the dough (while still in the bowl) into a ball. Place on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten the ball into a circle that is 1 1/2″ thick. Using a sharp knife, make an “X” across the whole top of the dough.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 15 minutes.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 3rd, 2007 at 4:35 am and is filed under Beef, Soups and Stews, Regional and Ethnic Food, Holiday Recipes, Bread. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.