irish stew and more

here is a picture of the irish stew that i made for dinner tonight.

the glass of guinness belonged to J. if any of the pregnancy police are reading this, rest assured that i borrowed it for illustrative purposes only. and if you read all the way to the end of this post, i will reward you with the recipe, which i pretty much made up on the spot based upon a very overly complicated recipe and what would cook really quickly, because really, who has time to simmer an irish stew for four hours on a monday night? but it turned out GREAT.

and here you will see a picture of the rosemary plant that i bought to use to make tea. it's huge. rosemary's not a bad cooking herb, either. great for roasting meat. also, i like to use it in spicy roasted nuts at christmastime. i had planned to buy a much smaller plant, but i walked into wild-oats-soon-to-be-whole-foods and right there at the entrance was a big display of christmas-tree-shaped rosemary plants leftover from the holidays, on sale. it doesn't get any easier than that.

and here you will see a picture of the menthol crystals that i got at the peace of mind bookstore on saturday. they look like something very, very illegal, but i assure you, they're not. this one-ounce bag cost about four dollars. you can click on the pictures for larger views.

and finally, here you will see how the menthol crystals work. you take a tiny little piece and put it into a mug of steaming water, and then you inhale the steam aromatherapy-like. it's like vicks vapo-rub times ten billion. it's amazing what it does to clear up your sinuses.

bonus points to anyone who can identify the mug. without googling it.

now, for the recipe.

Super-Quick-Like Irish Stew

1 package ready-made roast beef (see picture)

1/2 large white onion, chopped

4-5 large carrots, roughly chopped

2-3 large potatoes, roughly chopped

1 individual-serving-size bottle red wine (see picture, except that's obviously not a red wine)

1/2 of a can of Guinness

1 small can tomato paste

1 can beef broth

a big glass of hot water

1 big pinch sugar

1 tablespoon dried thyme

2 dashes ground sage

5-6 big dashes worchestershire

1 clove garlic, smashed and diced

salt & pepper to taste

okay. big stock pot. pour in the can of beef broth and a big glass of hot water and get it boiling on high. then peel the carrots and potatoes, chop them up, and throw them in and get them cooking. follow with the onion and garlic. once it's boiling, reduce heat to medium-high.

add the little bottle of red wine (i used merlot) and the half can of Guinness. then add the spices and worchestershire and the tomato paste. (the original recipe called for only two tablespoons of tomato paste [along with a bunch of other obscure ingredients and time-consuming tasks, including cooking the beef in butter and simmering for hours on end. i mean really, do you think the rural irish were garnishing their soup with chopped fresh parsley and ground coriander?], but then what do you do with the rest of the can? i use tomato paste like once a month, so to use it two tablespoons at a time is a huge waste of the rest of the can. so i throw it all in.)

bring back up to a boil and then add the whole package of beef, gravy included, and simmer until it reduces by an inch or two (about 10 minutes - long enough to make some biscuits and get them in the oven. as you can tell, cooking is far from an exact science with me). speaking of which, the original recipe called for a bay leaf, too, but i was out. so you could throw one or two of those in there, if you were so inclined. oh, and also add some salt and pepper.

serve with irish soda bread and a mug of Guinness. or, if you're pregnant, organic apple juice.