I made another stew last night, fastest stew I've made, and quite possibly the best as well.
I figure now that i've talked it up that much, you'll want a full disclosure of what exactly I did to make it taste so great.
First, I got a new kitchen tool, and I can't believe that I haven't gotten one of these before. A pressure cooker. The direct application of PV=nRT on food. Such gloriousness shouldn't have been missing from my kitchen before. Just remember, read the instructions for your pressure cooker, make sure it's behaving or it can become a very dangerous bomb on your stovetop. This recipe may fill your pressure cooker more than you are comfortable with, reduce ingredients in proportion as appropriate.
In a measuring cup, combine the liquids and first guess at appropriate spicing, including bay leaves.
Start by mincing about 3 cloves of garlic and mincing the 1/2 onion, and making sure the meat is cubed and as defatted as you want it. (The pressure cooker said no fatty meat.) Heat the pressure cooker (open, of course) and put a little olive oil in, toss in the garlic and onion and sautee for a couple minutes. Throw in the meat and brown it some, pour in the liquid and one of the bags of tomatos, turn up the heat and seal the pressure cooker. Once it's at pressure, cook for 20 minutes.
While this is cooking, rinse the fingerling potatos and cut any that are bigger than about an inch square if you desire. When the 20 minutes are up, depressure the cooker, taste the broth and reseason as needed, add the potatos and repressurize the cooker, then cook for 4 minutes. Depressurize and add the carrots and final set of tomatos, pressurize again and cook for 2 minutes. Depressurize, stir, taste, final season and serve.
Hopefully, you've been smart and have a batch of noodles cooking to keep this stew company.
Warning: This will probably server 10 - 12 people easily.
Ingredient List:
1.5 lbs cubed lamb
2.5 lbs cubed beef
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Basil to taste
2 bags cherry tomatos
2 bag fingerling potatos
small bag baby carrots
1/4 cup Worchestire sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup of a tasty red wine (that's been left on the counter for the last week or so, corked)
1/2 cup of beef broth
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