Wylie’s Winter Ale Bison Stew

Thanks to justasmidgen.wordpress.com for this. I wonder if WinnCo carries bison?

Wylie's Winter Ale Bison Stew.

Wylie’s Winter Ale Bison Stew

Ingredients
1/4 lb bacon
2 lge onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 cloves garlic, diced

200 gm crimini mushrooms

1 cup flour
1 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
3 lbs stewing meat cut in cubes (I used 1 lb bison and 2 lbs beef)
olive oil as needed
12 oz Granville Island Winter Ale Beer
12 oz beef broth
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
4-6 medium potatoes, cubed
4-6 carrots, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 325° F.
Coarsely chop bacon and fry in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon and leave the drippings in the pan. Add the onion and reduce heat to medium low. Sprinkle sugar over and continue to stir over low heat until the onion browns and is caramelized and soft, adding garlic cloves in the last few minutes of cooking.

Remove onions and place in a strainer over a bowl to catch the drippings if there are any (depending on the amount of fat in the bacon, I didn’t have any). Add olive oil as needed and toss in the mushrooms, cooking until browned. Remove mushrooms from skillet.

Mix the flour, thyme, salt and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Add a splash of olive oil to the skillet and turn on medium high heat. Dredge, to coat, all pieces of beef and add them to the skillet and brown. Stir and turn the meat cubes to brown all sides. Take care not to overcrowd the skillet so that beef cubes can brown properly. Repeat for each batch, adding olive oil as needed to the skillet. As each batch of meat is browned, place in an oven-proof skillet.

When all the beef is in the casserole dish, add some of the winter ale to the skillet. Add back the bacon bits and bring the heat to medium high to deglaze the pan.

Add the onions to the meat in the casserole dish, then pour the beer and bacon mixture over top. Add the remaining winter ale and the rest of the ingredients, from the beef broth through to the carrots. If needed, add additional broth if more liquid is required.

Cover and bake at 325° F for about 1 hour and 30 minutes until beef is cooked and vegetables are tender.

Serve with a hearty loaf of bread to mop up the sauce and remove bay leaves and cloves, if possible.

Adapted from Cooking with Guinness

T-Minus 3.5 And Counting

Darn it, I only have the rest of today through Sunday left for my vacation. And to top it all off, I was hit with some unexpected bills the day after payday, so all of my drunken festivities I had planned are now gone! I day late and a dollar short.

So I must improvise, adapt, and over come. Seeing that I must find ways to spend my last few days of vacation a bit differently, I have decided to slow them down. I got up this morning a bit earlier, and I am traveling the 3-mile journey to the gym by bike. Now I know this will really slow things up, because I will stop for a cup of joe on the way, and a mug of brew on the way back. I can always find a few extra bucks for liquids, and that also includes gasoline!

Once I get back to Camp H.B., I have a few things I need to do. I can finally clean the two Persian rugs I have in the garage. Who knows, they might be worth a few bucks. I can finish picking the oranges and grapefruits. And seeing that the weather today is sunny, and a warm 60 degrees plus, I can listen to my country music shuffle on the stereo, play with the 4- pups, sit in the lawn chair, and crack the last 12 Silver Soldiers I have left.

Looks like I might be able to turn these last few days of vacation around!