Happy St. Pattys Day!

Today we made a yummy Irish meal. Beef Stew and Irish Soda bread.

The stew is pretty much your basic stew I'll list what we put in it but feel free to try different variations of veggies and such.

Beef Stew:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1.5 lbs chuck roast (this is a good way to cook this kind of meat which is usually pretty cheap but can be tough. Stewing it makes it nice and tender though!)
2 tbsp flour
1 small onion
a few garlic cloves
1 can tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
12 oz of beer ( you want to use a stout or porter, we used Yuengling Porter)
4 cups sliced carrots
2 large potatoes



Heat oil in a big pot or dutch oven ( we just got a new dutch oven...yay!) Chop up your beef, coat it in flour and throw in the pot to brown. Remove the meat from the pot and add the onions til tender.

Throw everything back into the pot and let simmer over low heat for an hour. Stir occasionally.


Irish Soda Bread (Recipe from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman):
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
butter

Mix dry ingredients together, add in milk. Stir til dough forms. Put it on a floured counter and knead for a few minutes til smooth and stretchy. I guess i'm a slow kneader cause the recipe says 3 minutes but I went for about 5.

Let sit on the counter for a few minutes while you preheat your oven to 375

Grease up your baking sheet with butter, throw the dough on the pan and stick in the oven for 45 minutes. In the case of all breads as far as i've found, take it out flip it over and tap it. If it sounds hollow you're golden!

Now enjoy your Irishy meal! huzzah

Nutrition Info Stew: Makes 8 Servings
Calories: 269
Carbs: 29.9g
Fat: 5.2g
Protein: 22g

Nutrition Info Soda Bread: 2 oz serving
Calories: 164
Carbs: 31.8g
Fat: 2.8g
Protein: 3.7g