Sunday, December 21, 2014

Winter Stew

Here's another article in my cooking series.  This one covers a stew I like to make and like even more to eat.
Stew's on

Ingredients

For the stew in the photo above I used chicken stock, potatoes, carrots, peas, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, bacon, and Country Gravy mix.  The amounts needed depend on your inventory and number of guests.  I used about two cups of stock, one cup of peas, one pound of bacon, one good sized onion, several hefty carrots and potatoes, and one head of garlic.  
There are numerous places in this recipe to make substitutions or additions.  For example, any broth or stock you have on hand is the right kind to use here.  Swap out the meat stock with vegetable stock and leave out the bacon for a vegetarian stew.  Also, I used gravy mix from the grocery store but flour or corn starch will also thicken up the stew.  

Directions

Prepare your ingredients.  Cube the potatoes, slice the carrot and onion, mince the garlic. 
Put the potatoes on to boil in the chicken stock.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Mash the potatoes when they are soft.  
Brown the bacon in a skillet and set it aside.  Saute the onions and garlic in the skillet.  
Add peas and carrots to the potatoes in the stock.  Return to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until done.
Add onion, garlic, bacon, and stir in gravy mix.  Stew will thicken.  Serve with bread.

This warm hearty stew straight from the root cellar has everything a working Viking needs to raid on through the winter.