A stew was in order.
It was a blustery day in perth.
The sort of day where you want to curl up with a good book, but had to be at work instead.
So at about 10 o clock i decided that a stew was in order. Something nice and hearty; a reason to have the oven on.
It wasn’t the greatest stew i’ve ever made. My head wasn’t quite in the game and i forgot to add flavour.
And when i did it was a bit too late.
Onion and chuck steak went in a fry pan to brown.
Then some flour went over that, as a thickening agent.
I imagine it like a roux sauce where your flour and butter stick together and then thicken milk, except for a casserole i use beer. And in this case Fosters.
My boy and I are two Australians who actually drink Fosters, but it is hard to find.
While that was bubbling away i chopped some potatoes, carrots, capsicum, and mushrooms.
They went in the bottom of my little casserole dish and then the meat on top.
That went in the oven for half an hour.
I checked on it at half an hour, the potatoes still weren’t cooked, and it was very bland.
So i added some salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and HP barbeque sauce (seriously what was i thinking not adding any of this earlier??) and stirred that through the best i could.
Another half an hour and it was still looking a bit runny, so i put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
It still wasn’t really thick (i don’t know why i can’t get a nice thick stew – to the research-mobile!), but i was hungry.
It definitely hit the spot, but i’m going to have to practice some more to make it good.
polka-dots & sparkles 
yummo!