Gutsy menu 24... most of it

Our menu for week 24 was Ficelles (pg.79); Irish Stew (pg. 342); and French Apple Tart (pg. 454).  Once again, a new food for our family.  I've never had or made Irish Stew so it was a culinary adventure for us.  Mostly, the fam are not big fans of potatoes, so I didn't plan on it going over really well.  It was well received by those who like or tolerate potatoes and was not gagged on by the picky-set.  So, not a flop by any means.  I thought it was yummy and would totally eat it again.  Although I will say, that I wish that I had dipped the meat into a flour mixture before making this.  It was pretty soupy and not really stewy.  But the flavor was good.

Once again, we made the stew in the oven.  I love this method.

The Ficelles.  This bread was so easy and so awesome.  It had a salt water wash on the top which I thought might be weird, but ended up being very tasty.  It was a big hit at our house. 

Not much beats a bowl of stew and warm fresh bread!

I bought all the stuff to make the apple tart, but never got around to it.  We love apples here so one of these days, I'll bust out this new recipe and give it a try.