Liberty Stew
Every St. Patrick’s Day I make vegetarian stew and invite friends over. We listen to Live Ireland and have a good time. Everyone requests the recipe, so I thought I’d whip up this article. I plan to add more recipes in the future. We call this Liberty Stew because my friend and I would make the stew, then watch a documentary while the stew cooked, then we could talk about what we had seen. I suppose today it could also refer to Irish liberty.
This stew uses whatever you have on hand. Gather some vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, and peppers. Use a few big baking potatoes. We also like capers. Prepare things ahead of time for the most relaxing experience. You will also need some meet substitute, such as Morningstar Farms Crumbles. You want something to imitate ground beef. You’ll also need garlic, onions, oil, and cooking wine. For an Irish twist you may enjoy using Guinness. You should also get the highest quality salt you can find. I like Himalayan salt, which you could always buy from here.
Start by putting oil in a large cooking pot. YOu want to make sure nothing will stick. Put in salt, pepper, garlic, and onions. Let then cook for a few moments then add the meet substitute. Let it brown, then add your vegetables. Potatoes take the longest to cook, so get them in right away. Mushrooms have lots of water, which helps things not burn. Add your liquid as needed.
Cover and let it cook for a few hours. Stir it every twenty minutes or so, and make sure nothing sticks. You can add more seasonings or anything else as the stew cooks as well. After enough time has passed, let it cool and serve.
As with anything, practice makes perfect. You will learn the right proportions of things from experience. Hopefully this will get you started. After you’ve done it a few times you can make a great stew and clean out your fridge. Enjoy!