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I haven’t posted much lately because of March Madness.
The past three weeks have been Basketball Tournament Time here in the Mountain State. So far I’ve covered games in the state small-college conference tournament, the girls’ state’ high-school tournament and the boys’ state high-school tournament. I do it because the Gazette’s sports staff gets stretched mighty thin in early March. The editors ask me to help out, and I do.
What does basketball have to do with critters, stew and St. Patrick’s Day? Nothing, really. But I felt you were owed an explanation. Now on to the topic at hand:
Back during the summer, I did a story on a Huntington woman’s recipe for Goose a l’Orange. To get the necessary photographs, I visited Regina, Todd and Kristin Trimboli’s house on an evening Regina had chosen to prepare the dish. During dinner (you didn’t think I’d turn down a free meal, did you?), Todd mentioned that Regina also liked to prepare Irish Stew with game meat as the chief component. He said it had become a family tradition to serve it on St. Patrick’s Day, and he and Regina invited me to stop by the following March for a sample.
That was today. I just polished off a hearty sample made with venison, rabbit and squirrel. As expected, it was delicious!
Regina gave me permission to share the recipe with you. Here it is:
Irish Stew
Ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs. venison, 1 rabbit, 2 squirrels, 3 cups beef broth, 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tsp. ground thyme, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1 bottle Harp beer, 5 cubed potatoes, 6 carrots sliced into discs, and 3/4 of an onion diced or minced.
Instructions: Boil the rabbit and squirrel separately until tender and cut into pieces. Cut the venison into bite-sized pieces and brown in oil. Add 1 cup of beef broth to the venison, bring to a boil and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cooked rabbit and squirrel and simmer 10 more minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Add the bottle of beer and bring to a boil. Add the onion and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, the carrots and 1 more cup of beef broth. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 to 40 minutes (vegetables should be tender, not soft). Combine 1/2 cup of beef broth with 2 tbsp. of all-purpose flour and add to the stew until the stew thickens. If the stew is too thick, more beef broth can be added.
Enjoy!
