Three Beautiful Things 02/18/18: Blizzard, Irish Stew, Lots to Talk About

1. We woke up to a blizzard. The wind wasn't terribly strong, but strong enough that the relentless snowfall descended on a slant. The snow buried the sidewalks and driveway I shoveled yesterday and I kept looking out the window, ready to shovel again if the snowfall subsided. Early in the afternoon, it did subside and I was about to spring into action and heard the welcome sound of our neighbor's snowblower. Bob Cummings was out clearing snow. My work was done.

2. When Julie came to visit me and the Deke back on St. Patrick's Day two years ago in Greenbelt, I made Irish stew and that stew has been on my mind all week.  Just a few days ago, I transferred a beef stock that had been bubbling away for a week into a gallon ziplock bag and I wanted to put it to use. Tonight the Deke and I hosted family dinner. So, I browned two pounds of stew meat in the Dutch oven in two batches, removed the meat, and replaced it with chopped onion, halved baby potatoes, and chopped celery and carrots. I removed the vegetables, melted some butter in the Dutch oven and sauteed six smashed garlic gloves. By now, the interior of the Dutch Oven was encrusted with blackened stew meat remnants and I rubbed some grease on my elbows and deglazed the the Dutch oven with red wine and a wooden spoon.

Now I added the broth along with North Coast's Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout (I know -- in an Irish stew? Ha!), and other seasonings -- but I purposely left out the tomato paste. I made an executive decision about the tomato paste. I just wanted this to be a tomato-less stew. It already had notes of sweetness promised by the carrots and a small amount of sugar and I wanted this stew to lean much toward the savory. I stirred the liquid while it reached a low boil, added back in the meat and vegetables and put it all in the oven at 275 degrees. The recipe called for a 350 degree oven, but I wanted it to cook at a slower rate, so I made another executive decision and lowered the temperature.

I checked on the stew after it had been cooking for about three hours and everything was just as I had hoped it might be: the vegetables were tender, but not mushy and the meat was also tender and easy to chew. I then made another executive decision. I let the stew rest on the stovetop for a while, unheated, just to give the flavors a chance to be left alone.

Around 5:15 I brought the stew back up to a slow boil,  made dumpling dough and popped about eight dumplings on the stew's surface, let them simmer uncovered for about fifteen minutes, then put the lid on the Dutch oven and let the dumplings simmer more until I served Christy, Carol, Paul, Everett, the Deke, and me stew at around 6:30. The Deke made a delicious and creative cabbage salad with celery and feta cheese and an oil and vinegar dressing. Before eating, I served everyone a Jameson's Irish Whiskey mixed with ginger ale and a squirt of lime juice, one of my favorite drinks. We had chocolate truffles for dessert.

The recipe for this Irish stew can be found right here.

3. We had a lot to talk about at dinner and afterward -- the Deke reported on her terrific trip to Eugene, we all talked about last night's crab feed at the Elks, and we had fascinating discussions about physical therapy, food, and, the inescapable topic of the day, the snow!