Chaos Kitchen Creations: Nano-Sapiens' Irish Stew

And here’s the recipe from last week’s story! Plus, your weekly critter pictures – come and smell the virtual roses!

Hope everyone’s week is going well. Ours is improving, with much sleep, and hiding, like birds from a ferret. I am a little goofy today, because I managed to catch Tod’s virus. On the good side, I had medication, much sleep, and a very cuddly puppy that is willing to keep me company. On the bad side, breathing is difficult at times. But such is life.

Also, I started trying out my charcoal pencils and charcoal sticks. (For those that didn’t know, Anna is teaching herself to draw. With both hands. -Tod) I have decided I like pencils best, because I am like a cat, and don’t like to get my fur dirty… Well, at least I am like Aki now… but long ago she climbed up a chimney. I don’t think she would do so now, but Beleth would. I am no longer sure why people say cats are finicky… might need to come up with another saying for that.

Question for my artist friends: is there a trick to keeping once’s fingers from turning black when drawing with charcoal sticks or is this just part of the fun?

Anyway, enjoy the fun little recipe below. Cook, Tod, cook.

I am going to go back to napping. See you all next week.

Irish stew (Irish: stobhach)

If you missed the story, it was posted last week. https://akristinacasasent.com/nano-sapiens-carter-and-the-saint/

This recipe, while appearing simple, creates a tasty stew with a flavor profile more complex and powerful than such simple ingredients would suggest. For the Nano-Sapiens version, our critters substituted fennel bulbs for onions. (Also an alternative if you need to avoid onions for dietary reasons.)

Ingredients

2.5 lb deboned mutton, cut in chunks

4 large potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced

2 large onions, thickly sliced

3–4 medium carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

1 sprig of parsley, chopped

5 cups water

Salt

Pepper

Note: We used red potatoes and added potato starch to thicken the stew. Russet potatoes should naturally thicken the broth.

Steps

Prepare Ingredients: cut the meat into chunks, peel and thickly slice potatoes, cut the onions and carrots into thick slices. Salt and pepper as desired, especially the meat.

Pictures of meat and whole and sliced potatoes — Prepare Ingredients

Layer Ingredients: Use a big pot with a lid – we used our enameled cast-iron pot. Layer the ingredients starting with and ending with potatoes. We added water to cover the ingredients.

Picture of first potatoes, then onions, then carrots and meat in the pot — Layer Ingredients

Cook: Cover and put on a very low heat for about 1.5 hours for lamb (2.5 hours for beef) until the meat is tender. Potatoes should thicken the liquid.

Chaos Critter Pictures

Beleth the tabby cat and Dante lounging together beside Anna's phone — Beleth and Dante take Anna’s phone away while she’s sick and needs to rest.

Aki the calico sitting on a quilted bed while Dante lounges behind her — Ake and Dante ask, “Whose bed is it, anyway?”

Crokell and Dante standing on the grass by a wooden fence — Crokell and Dante wonder if they should potty or go back inside.

Chaos Tip of the Week

When you purchase special ingredients for a recipe, be sure to actually use them in the recipe!

Also, red potatoes – or really any kind of potato that holds its texture/shape better – will not act to thicken a stew!

Chaos Question of the Week

What’s your favorite kind of potato? We like red potatoes for soups and sweet potatoes for baked potatoes.

~Anna and Tod