FOOD: A classic beef stew is easy to do

Food forms the centre of our lives in so many ways. Planned meals, rushed meals, meals for sustenance, meals to celebrate, planning a recipe, cooking off the hoof… so many possibilities and so many variations.
From my 20s on, I think I fairly ‘got’ cooking with fish. It had not started well in our house, in the 1970s with fried mackerel and salmon, complete with smoke and overpowering smells. I put it down to the lack of supply of really good, fresh fish from our shops. If fish was in any way old, it meant frying the ‘bejaysus’ out of it. One positive effect of big business is the logistical supply chains it establishes, and from the ’90s onwards there was no excuse for getting anything other than fresh fish in your local shop. I recommend always buying with your eyes and nose!
I was lucky to get early on that if fish was fresh and clean then it actually needed very little doing to it. Steaming it in water, or tin foil, easily creates excellent looking and tasty dishes. Cooking in the oven or on the hob with other ingredients present so many alternatives to the tradition ‘fry and smoke’! Then it was all about matching the fish with a suitable accompaniment: Cod with thinly sliced rings, Pink salmon with beetroot cubes, whiting with lemon wedges and capers, delicious sole with butter and dill fronds… the choices go on.
I felt less at ease with cooking meat. Growing up, the Sunday roast still appeared a thing of mystery. In the last ten years, though, I feel much more confident, and meat presents me with less challenges. My biggest repeat mistake is to overcook it, having grown up with a fear of under-cooked meat!
As we inch ever closer to opening Cabot’s cookery school at the Deerpark, Aughagower, I am seriously considering writing in BIG letters on the wall ‘Make mistakes, always learn’.

Basic beef stew
This basic beef stew recipe is perfect for varying or adding to, depending on your tastes. Once you know the template you can throw any shape on it you desire. Add potatoes, peas or whatever takes your fancy.

What you need
850g stewing beef (blade or brisket work well)
1 white onion, peeled and sliced
2 big carrots, washed and cut into chunks
2 celery sticks, sliced thickly
2tbsp flour
Large knob of butter
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato puree
4 bay leaves
Seasoning
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cube of beef or veg stock, crumbled
Oil

What you do
Get prepared by pre-heating your oven to 160°c and boiling a kettle of water. Put the celery, carrots, bay leaves and one sprig of thyme with butter and some oil into a heavy casserole dish. Soften those vegetables by cooking for ten minutes in the oven or over low heat on the top hob.
Stir in the flour and mix well while cooking. Add the tomato puree, Worcestershire, and stock cube. Steadily add 600ml of boiled water, stir, then simply add in the stewing beef and bring to a simmer.
Cover you casserole pot and place in the oven for two-and-half hours, remove the lid, then and cook for another half hour. After cooking in all those juices, removing the lid just lets the sauce condense a bit. The meat should be really tender, full of flavour from the vegetables.
Serve with mash.

— Redmond

Redmond and Sandra Cabot live in Lanmore, outside Westport, with their children, Penny and Louis. Fresh, seasonal foods are their passion – shopping at country markets, growing their own veg and producing their own dips and sauces and for sale.