A cold and rainy autumn day (or late spring for that matter) can be warded off with a hearty bowl of stew, some spent grain bread, and a Guinness. I’ll leave you to your on devices for the bread and beverage. Here is my take on a hunter’s classic.

This recipe is really a potpourri of whatever you may have in the ice box and pantry.

• 3-4 lbs Venison or Lamb
• 2-3 large white onions
• 4 red/green/yellow sweet peppers
• 3 lbs potatoes
• 1 bunch of celery
• 4 medium carrots
• 4-6 cups stock

optional

• 12 oz lima beans
• 12 oz petite peas

I used the neck of a medium sized deer and removed the bone. This yielded a good sized roast – or in this case, about 4 lbs of meat. This recipe works very well substituting goat or lamb – depending on your preference and what’s available.

Cut the meat into cubes between 3/4 and 1-1/2 inches in size.

You want to dice up the onions, peppers, potatoes and carrots. If you want a sweet counterpoint to the savory stew, cook the onions down separately to a mild caramelized state.

Toss together all of the vegetables. If you add any of the options, toss those together as well. Season the vegetables with salt, fresh ground pepper, and any other spices you prefer. I like to use one of the dry rubs from Salspray as a general purpose spice blend.

Put about a third of the vegetables in the bottom of a stew pot (this recipe will also work with a large crock pot … or should I say very large crock pot). Next, layer about half the meat over the vegetables. Repeat. Finish with the remainder of the vegetables on top.

Pour the stock in. It should just reach cover the ingredients.

By the way, a good source of stock is to stew down the leftovers from thanksgiving or other large holiday meal. I pour the stock into vacuumed seal bags in 2 and 4 cup amounts and freeze. These stocks are great for “foul weather soups”such as this recipe.

Bring the contents of the pot almost to a boil and then simmer for 2-3 hours. Check the meat for doneness.