Stew on the King's Road

Yoren sat on a stone, skinning a squirrel. The savory smell of stew filled Tyrion's nostrils. He dragged himself over to where his man Morrec was tending the stewpot. Wordlessly, Morrec handed him the ladle. Tyrion tasted and handed it back. "More pepper," he said.

Deeply sorry for the prolonged absence.  We've had lots of changes here at the kitchen. New babies, new jobs, new states.

However, it is fall now, and fall means stew.

I envisioned this to be a simple easy stew that the men of the Night's Watch could scrabble together from things found in their travels, and perhaps a few provisions tithed by Winterfell.  I'm not much for eating squirrel, so I used beef.  However, a closer parallel would be rabbit.  Still, the stew was tasty!

Ingredients:

3tbs lard, grease or other cooking oil.

1 onion peeled and chopped

3 cloves of garlic chopped

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped

1 sprig fresh thyme, chopped

2lbs stew meat cubed

salt to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper (or more if you are cooking for Tyrion)

2tbs flour

1 cup sweet red wine (I used Marsala)

1lb butternut squash cut into cubes (or potato, or sweet potato, or whatever else the Night's Watch may have found growing on their trail)

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

2 cups chopped mushroom (or more...I used more.  I like mushroom)

3-4 cups beef broth

crusty bread for serving

In a large soup pot or dutch oven heat lard/grease/oil over medium heat.  Add onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme.  Cook until tender.

Add mushrooms and brown slightly.

Toss beef in salt, pepper and flour.  Turn heat up to medium high and add beef.  Cook until beef is browned at the edges (about 5 minutes.  Do not overcook.  

Add the wine and scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.  Add squash and tomatoes and stir.

Add enough beef broth to cover beef and squash.  Bring stew to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

Season with salt and pepper (lots of pepper for Tyrion).

Eat.